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Institutional Asymmetry And The Acceptability Of Undeclared Work: Synthesis Report, Colin C. Williams
Institutional Asymmetry And The Acceptability Of Undeclared Work: Synthesis Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This report is part of the project SHADOWSwhich aims to investigate the effectiveness of different policy measures in reducing undeclared work. As such, the project evaluates not only the effectiveness of using a rational economic actor approach (that tackles undeclared work by ensuring that the payoff from undeclared work is outweighed by the costs), and a social actor approach (grounded in a view that undeclared work arises when tax morale is low), but also analyses the interaction effects (between deterrents and tax morale, and vertical and horizontal trust) in various contexts. This report focuses on the social actor approach, …
Explaining And Tackling Under-Declared Employment In Fyr Macedonia: The Employers Perspective, Colin C. Williams, Slavko Bezeredi
Explaining And Tackling Under-Declared Employment In Fyr Macedonia: The Employers Perspective, Colin C. Williams, Slavko Bezeredi
Colin C Williams
The aim of this paper is to evaluate how employers who illegally under-report their employees’ salaries to
evade paying the full tax and social contributions owed can be explained and tackled. These employers have
been conventionally explained as rational economic actors doing so when the benefits outweigh the costs,
and thus the solution is to increase the sanctions and/or probability of detection. An alternative social actor
approach, however, explains employers as under-reporting salaries because of their lack of both vertical trust
(i.e., their beliefs are not in symmetry with the laws and regulations) and horizontal trust (i.e., they believe
many …
Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union: Input Paper To Thematic Discussion Of European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams
Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union: Input Paper To Thematic Discussion Of European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The under-declaration of work ranges from employers using unregistered employees, through the under-declaration of income by the formal self-employed and formal businesses, to the misuse of collaborative platforms and the digital economy to conceal the full amount of incomes and social security due.
The objective of this thematic discussion on under-declared employment in the European Union is: (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about under-declared employment, and (iii) to explore how the Platform activities can contribute to tackling under-declared employment.
The intention is to focus upon two types of under-declaring work: …
Evaluating Competing Perspectives Towards Undeclared Work: Some Lessons From Bulgaria, Colin C. Williams
Evaluating Competing Perspectives Towards Undeclared Work: Some Lessons From Bulgaria, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
When explaining and tackling the undeclared economy in Central
and Eastern Europe, participants have been conventionally viewed
as rational economic actors. They engage in undeclared work
when the benefits outweigh the costs. Participation is thus
deterred by increasing the sanctions and/or probability of being
caught. Recently, however, an alternative social actor approach
has emerged which views participants as engaging in undeclared
work when their norms, values and beliefs (i.e. citizen morale) do
not align with laws and regulations (i.e. state morale). Here, therefore,
initiatives to develop greater symmetry between civic and
state morale are pursued. To evaluate the validity and …
Explaining Informal Sector Entrepreneurship In Kosovo: An Institutionalist Perspective, Colin C. Williams
Explaining Informal Sector Entrepreneurship In Kosovo: An Institutionalist Perspective, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Institutional theory has been widely used to explain entrepreneurship in the informal economy.
A first wave of institutionalist theory argued that informal entrepreneurship resulted from formal
institutional failures and a second wave that such entrepreneurship results from an asymmetry
between the laws and regulations of formal institutions and the unwritten socially shared rules of
informal institutions. This paper evaluates the validity of these two waves of institutionalist explanation
and a new third wave of institutional theory explaining informal entrepreneurship in terms
of a lack of both vertical and horizontal trust. Reporting data from a 2013 survey in Kosovo
involving 500 …
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns, Colin C. Williams
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
1. Introduction
The aim of this study is to review the range of preventative approaches for tackling undeclared work available to Member States, and to focus upon two types of preventative measure, namely service vouchers and the use of awareness raising campaigns.
2. Rationales for a preventative approach
· The rationale for a preventative approach is to shift away from resolving problems after they have occurred towards preventing non-compliance in the first place.
· Article 1 of Decision (EU) 2016/3441, establishing the Platform, explicitly encourages such a preventative approach. It states that ‘”tackling”, in relation to undeclared work, means preventing, …
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns - Input Paper To Thematic Discussion, Colin C. Williams
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns - Input Paper To Thematic Discussion, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The objective of the thematic discussion on preventative measures for tackling undeclared work, focusing on both service vouchers and awareness raising campaigns, is (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about these preventative measures, and (iii) to explore how the Platform activities can contribute to developing a preventative approach towards undeclared work.
This thematic discussion will focus attention on three key issues. In Part 1, we will address an issue everyone is aware of but until now has not been discussed, namely why preventative measures are not commonly used in Member States …
Explaining Cross-Country Variations In The Prevalence Of Informal Sector Competitors: Lessons From The World Bank Enterprise Survey, Colin C. Williams
Explaining Cross-Country Variations In The Prevalence Of Informal Sector Competitors: Lessons From The World Bank Enterprise Survey, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
To advance understanding of informal sector entrepreneurship, the aim of this
paper is to evaluate and explain the cross-country variations in the prevalence of informal
sector competitors. To do so, World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data is reported
from 142 countries. This reveals that 27% of formal enterprises view competition from the
informal sector as a major constraint on their operations, although this varies from 72%of
formal enterprises in Chad to no formal enterprises in El Salvador. To explain these crosscountry
variations, four competing theories are evaluated which variously view informal
sector entrepreneurship and enterprise to bemore prevalent when there …
Starting-Up Unregistered And Firm Performance In Turkey, Colin C. Williams
Starting-Up Unregistered And Firm Performance In Turkey, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Recent years have seen a questioning of the negative representation of
informal sector entrepreneurship and an emergent view that it may offer significant
benefits. This paper advances this rethinking by evaluating the relationship between
business registration and future firm performance. Until now, the assumption has been
that starting-up unregistered is linked to weaker firm performance. Using World Bank
Enterprise Survey data on 2494 formal enterprises in Turkey, and controlling for other
determinants of firm performance as well as the endogeneity of the registration
decision, the finding is that formal enterprises that started-up unregistered and spent
longer unregistered have significantly higher …
Do Deterrents Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Rational Economic Actor Approach, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams
Do Deterrents Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Rational Economic Actor Approach, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Across the member states of the European Union and beyond, paid transactions occur that are not declared to the state for tax, social security and/or labour law purposes when they should be declared. This is not a minority practice. The undeclared economy is estimated to be equivalent to 17.9 per cent of the EU28 GDP in 2016. Similarly, it is estimated that 9.3 per cent of total labour input in the private sector in the EU28 is undeclared and that undeclared work constitutes on average 14.3 per cent of gross value added in the private sector. Furthermore, in 2013, 4 …
Dependent Self-Employment: Trends, Challenges And Policy Responses In The Eu, Colin C. Williams
Dependent Self-Employment: Trends, Challenges And Policy Responses In The Eu, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Across the EU28, there is not only a significant ‘jobs gap’ with only 70.1 per cent of
the working age population in jobs but also concerns over the quality of jobs. One
particular concern is that employees are being falsely classified as self-employed by
employers in order to circumvent collective agreements, labour laws (e.g., minimum
wages, working time legislation), employment tax and other employer liabilities implied
in the standard contract of employment, and that the emergent ‘gig’ or ‘platform’ economy
is accelerating this trend.
This report evaluates this emergent employment relationship, here termed ‘dependent’
self-employment, which covers those classified as …
Greypolicybrief2_Macedonia.Pdf, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers, Ruslan Stefanov
Greypolicybrief2_Macedonia.Pdf, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers, Ruslan Stefanov
Colin C Williams
KEY POINTS
Ø Undeclared work hasdeep roots in FYR of Macedonia. 1 in 16 adults and 1 in 8 of the employed engage in undeclared work. The use of informal connections to circumvent formal institutions is practiced by 35% of Macedonians.
Ø Formal institutions in the country are underdeveloped. Unemployment also remains unusually high compared with the EU average.
Ø The traditional repression approach to tackling undeclared work, which has been prioritised so far by the authorities, is ineffective.
Ø Increasing penalties and surveillance/ control should at the very least be supplemented by public awareness …
Tackling Undeclared Work In Bulgaria: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Ruslan Stefanov, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers
Tackling Undeclared Work In Bulgaria: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Ruslan Stefanov, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers
Colin C Williams
KEY POINTS
Ø Undeclared work is socially accepted and widely practiced in Bulgaria. The undeclared economy is estimated at roughly a third of GDP. Nearly one in ten people do some undeclared work.
Ø Undeclared work is motivated primarily by lack of trust between the people and the authorities.It involves mostly people who voluntarily exit the declared economy but also those that are excluded.
Ø The conventional repressive approach to tackling undeclared work has exhausted its effects in Bulgaria. It should be complemented with more curative, preventative and commitment policies.
Ø Policymakers …
Tackling The Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons From A Study Of Europe’S Urban Population, Colin C. Williams, Ioana Horodnic
Tackling The Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons From A Study Of Europe’S Urban Population, Colin C. Williams, Ioana Horodnic
Colin C Williams
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the
most effective way of tackling the urban informal
economy. It has been recently argued that the
conventional rational economic actor approach
(which increases the costs of participating in the
urban informal economy so that they outweigh
the benefi ts) should be replaced or complemented
by a social actor approach which focuses
upon improving tax morale. To evaluate the effectiveness
of these supposedly alternative approaches
to tackling the participation of urban
populations in the informal economy, we report
the results of face-to-face interviews conducted
in 2013 with 17,886 urban dwellers across the …
Developing A Holistic Approach For Tackling Undeclared Work: Background Paper, Colin C. Williams
Developing A Holistic Approach For Tackling Undeclared Work: Background Paper, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
What is a holistic approach to tackling undeclared work? A holistic policy approach towards tackling the undeclared economy uses in a strategic and coordinated manner the full range of both the direct and indirect policy approaches and measures available to increase the power of, and trust in, authorities respectively.
Direct approachesreduce the costs and increase the benefits of operating on a declared basis, and increase the costs and reduce the benefits of operating undeclared. To do this, it uses:
· Deterrence measures that detect and punish participation in undeclared work firstly, by increasing the perceived or actual …