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Colin C Williams

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2019 Annual Platform Survey: Tackling Undeclared In The Collaborative Economy And Bogus Self-Employment, Data Exchange And Data Protection, And Cross-Border Sanctions, Colin C. Williams Oct 2019

2019 Annual Platform Survey: Tackling Undeclared In The Collaborative Economy And Bogus Self-Employment, Data Exchange And Data Protection, And Cross-Border Sanctions, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This survey collected information from EU Member States, as well as Iceland and Norway, on three issues:
 Tackling undeclared work in the collaborative economy and bogus self-employment.
 Data exchange and data protection.
 Cross-border sanctions.
Of the 28 Platform members from EU Member States as well as Iceland and Norway, 28 out of 30 responses were received. In addition, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) provided qualitative feedback on the role of social partners and their cooperation with enforcement authorities to tackle undeclared work in the areas covered by the survey.

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Cross-Border Concerted And Joint Inspections In The Fight Against Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams Jul 2019

Cross-Border Concerted And Joint Inspections In The Fight Against Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work organised a Thematic Review Workshop in Portugal on ‘Cross-border concerted and joint inspections’ between 28 February and 1 March 2019 (see Executive Summary here). It was hosted by the Authority for Working Conditions (Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho [ACT]). The aim was to share knowledge and experience among Platform members around a specific component of cross-border activities: concerted and joint inspections. Participants from 22 countries attended, including national ministries, labour inspectorates, regional administrative agencies and tax authorities. The workshop was the initial stage in a larger, mutual learning process and will generate further …

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Preventative Approaches For Tackling Undeclared Work, Focusing Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Learning Resource Paper For The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams May 2019

Preventative Approaches For Tackling Undeclared Work, Focusing Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Learning Resource Paper For The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Ÿ  Effective preventative approaches are long-term, tailored strategies. Over time, they can trigger behavioural change to declare work and increase trust in institutions. Preventative strategies should combine a range of measures and must be regularly tested, evaluated and adapted according to the results. Pilot schemes can be used to find effective ways to tailor approaches to the national context and culture. However, preventative approaches and deterrence approaches are complementary. Both can be used to tackle undeclared work.
Ÿ  Moving towards preventative measures requires a change of strategy of the role of enforcement institutions. A preventative approach requires support of all …

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Dependent Self-Employment: Trends, Challenges And Policy Responses In The Eu, Colin C. Williams Dec 2017

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 …

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En_Final_ Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Greece.Pdf, Colin C. Williams Sep 2016

En_Final_ Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Greece.Pdf, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of the undeclared economy in Greece followed by recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled.
 
Extent and nature of the undeclared economy in Greece
The size of the undeclared economy is commonly estimated to be equivalent to some 25% of GDP in Greece. A catalyst for its prevalence is the relatively high level of self-employment and large share of micro- and small enterprises. Micro enterprises with 1-9 employees represent 96% of all enterprises in Greece, employing 55% of the labour force (compared with less than 30% in the EU-28). …

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Oecd Policy Briefing Informal Entrepreneurship.Pdf, Colin C. Williams Sep 2014

Oecd Policy Briefing Informal Entrepreneurship.Pdf, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This paper provides the background paper for the OECD/European Commission policy brief on informal entrepreneurship which provides an overview of the main issues and policies on this subject. In this paper, informal entrepreneurs are defined as those starting a business or are the owner/manager of a business who engage in monetary transactions not declared to the state for tax, benefit and/or labour law purposes when they should be declared but which are legal in all other respects. 

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Tackling Undeclared Work In Croatia, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy May 2013

Tackling Undeclared Work In Croatia, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

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The Shadow Economy, Colin C. Williams, Friedrich Schneider May 2013

The Shadow Economy, Colin C. Williams, Friedrich Schneider

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

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Tackling Undeclared Work In Turkey, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy May 2013

Tackling Undeclared Work In Turkey, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

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Tackling Undeclared Work In Iceland, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy May 2013

Tackling Undeclared Work In Iceland, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

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Tackling Undeclared Work In Croatia And Four Eu Candidate Countries, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy May 2013

Tackling Undeclared Work In Croatia And Four Eu Candidate Countries, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

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Evaluating The Prevalence And Nature Of Self-Employment In The Informal Economy: Evidence From A 27-Nation European Survey, Colin C. Williams, Jan Windebank, Sara Nadin Jan 2012

Evaluating The Prevalence And Nature Of Self-Employment In The Informal Economy: Evidence From A 27-Nation European Survey, Colin C. Williams, Jan Windebank, Sara Nadin

Colin C Williams

Despite the emergent recognition that many in the informal economy work on a self-employed basis, few have evaluated the extent and character of such endeavour. To start to fill this gap, a 2007 Eurobarometer survey composed of 26,659 face-to-face interviews in 27 European countries is reported. This reveals that 1 in 28 of the surveyed population participated in self-employment in the informal economy over the previous year, albeit with some significant socio-economic and spatial variations in the commonality and character of participation, and their reasons for doing so. The paper concludes by reviewing the implications for future research and policy. 

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Evaluating The Variations In Undeclared Work In The Eu28, Colin C. Williams Dec 2011

Evaluating The Variations In Undeclared Work In The Eu28, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Drawing upon the results of 26,659 face-to-face interviews in the 27 member states of the
European Union (EU-27), the aim of this paper is to evaluate its varying magnitude and
whether such work is mostly wage-based (of an envelope wage or undeclared variety) or
own-account work (of a market-oriented or solidarity-oriented variety). The finding is
that in ‘welfare capitalist’ work and welfare regimes, which are more equal (measured by
the gini coefficient) pursue more extensive labour market interventions, have higher
levels of social protection and greater state redistribution, undeclared economies are
smaller and are composed mostly of solidarity-oriented own-account work. …

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Explaining The Persistence Of The Informal Economy In Central And Eastern Europe: Some Lessons From Moscow, Colin C. Williams Dec 2011

Explaining The Persistence Of The Informal Economy In Central And Eastern Europe: Some Lessons From Moscow, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

To evaluate critically the competing explanations for the persistence of the informal economy that variously represent this sphere as a residue, by-product, alternative and/or complement to the formal economy, this paper reports a survey of livelihood practices in 313 Moscow households. The finding is that the majority of households primarily depend on informal work to secure their livelihood and that although each and every theorisation is wholly valid with regard to particular types of informal work and/or specific population groups, no one articulation fully captures the diverse nature and multiple meanings of the informal economy in contemporary Moscow. The paper …

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Theorizing The Self-Service Economy: A Case Study Of Do-It-Yourself (Diy) Activity, Colin C. Williams Dec 2011

Theorizing The Self-Service Economy: A Case Study Of Do-It-Yourself (Diy) Activity, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Recently, it has become increasingly recognised that self-servicing is a growing rather than declining phenomenon. To explain this, a range of competing theories have emerged which variously portray those engaged in self-servicing either as rational economic actors, dupes, seekers of self-identity, or simply doing so out of necessity or choice. This paper evaluates critically the validity of these rival explanations. To do this, the extent of, and reasons for, self-servicing in the domestic realm is empirically evaluated through an internet survey of 5,500 people living in the city of Sheffield in England. This resulted in 418 valid responses (a 7.6 …

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Enabling Enterprise: Tackling The Barriers To Formalisation, Colin C. Williams Dec 2011

Enabling Enterprise: Tackling The Barriers To Formalisation, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

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Evaluating Competing Theories Of Informal Entrepreneurship: Some Lessons From Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Peter Rodgers Dec 2011

Evaluating Competing Theories Of Informal Entrepreneurship: Some Lessons From Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Peter Rodgers

Colin C Williams

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate critically the competing theories of informal
entrepreneurship that variously represent such endeavour as a residue from a previous mode of
accumulation (modernisation theory), a direct by-product of contemporary capitalism and survival
strategy for those marginalised from the circuits of the modern economy (structuralism), an endeavour
voluntarily pursued due to over-regulation in the formal economy (neo-liberalism) or a practice chosen
for social, redistributive, political or identity reasons (post-structuralism).
Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate these competing theories, a 2005/2006 survey
involving face-to-face interviews with 298 informal entrepreneurs in Ukraine is analysed.
Findings – …

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From Market Hegemony To Diverse Economies: Evaluating The Plurality Of Labour Practices In Ukraine, Colin C. Williams Dec 2011

From Market Hegemony To Diverse Economies: Evaluating The Plurality Of Labour Practices In Ukraine, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Drawing inspiration from a burgeoning corpus of scholars who have begun to question the narrative of impending market hegemony, this paper seeks to further advance this emergent ‘diverse economies’ literature by constructing a conceptual framework for representing the multiple labour practices in economies. Transcending the simplistic market/non-market dichotomy, this conceptualises multiple kinds of labour existing along a spectrum from market-oriented to non-market oriented practices, which is cross-cut by another spectrum ranging from wholly monetised to wholly non-monetised practices. The resultant portrayal of a plurality of labour practices that seamlessly merge into each other is then applied to understanding the types …

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How Much For Cash?: Tackling The Cash-In-Hand Culture In The European Property And Construction Sector, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Jan Windebank Dec 2011

How Much For Cash?: Tackling The Cash-In-Hand Culture In The European Property And Construction Sector, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Jan Windebank

Colin C Williams

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain the cash-in-hand consumer culture in the property
and construction sector. The conventional assumption has been that consumers using cash-in-hand
transactions are rational economic actors doing so simply to save money. Here, this is evaluated
critically.
Design/methodology/approach – To do this, evidence from a 2007 Eurobarometer survey
involving 26,659 face-to-face interviews in 27 European Union member states is reported.
Findings – The finding is that saving money is the sole motive of consumers in just 38 per cent of
cash-in-hand transactions in the European property and construction sector, one of several …

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Evaluating The Persistence Of Selfprovisioning In Central And Eastern Europe: Some Evidence From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin Dec 2011

Evaluating The Persistence Of Selfprovisioning In Central And Eastern Europe: Some Evidence From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin

Colin C Williams

Recently, it has become increasingly recognized that the reach of the market
economy is shallower than previously assumed and that other livelihood
practices persist, such as self-provisioning. However, neither the prevalence of
nor the rationales underpinning engagement in these non-market work
practices have been widely evaluated. To start to bridge this gap, this article
evaluates the extent of self-provisioning in post-Soviet Ukraine and the reasons
for engaging in such subsistence production. Until now, participants in selfprovisioning
have been portrayed either as rational economic actors, dupes,
seekers of self-identity, or simply doing so out of necessity or choice. Analyzing
face-to-face interviews …

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Beyond Competing Theories Of The Hidden Economy, Colin C. Williams Dec 2010

Beyond Competing Theories Of The Hidden Economy, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate critically the validity of rival theorisations of the hidden economy that variously read this sphere as a leftover from a previous era, a by-product of a new emergent form of capitalism, a complement to formal employment or an alternative to the formal economy. Until now, the common tendency among economic theorists has been to either universally privilege one theorisation over others, or to represent each theory as valid in different places. Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate their validity to the city of Moscow, a survey is reported involving 313 face-to-face interviews with inhabitants conducted …

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Evaluating The Nature Of The Relationship Between Informal Entrepreneurship And The Formal Economy In Rural Communities, Colin C. Williams Dec 2010

Evaluating The Nature Of The Relationship Between Informal Entrepreneurship And The Formal Economy In Rural Communities, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This paper evaluates critically the different theorizations of the nature of the relationship between informal entrepreneurship and the formal economy, which variously depict informal entrepreneurship as a leftover from a previous era, a survival practice for those excluded from the formal economy, and a complement or an alternative to participation in the formal economy. Reporting evidence from 350 face-to-face interviews in English rural communities, no single theorization is found to be universally applicable. Instead, all are shown to be valid in relation to different forms of informal entrepreneurship, and only by combining them is it feasible to achieve a finer-grained, …

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The Illusion Of Capitalism In Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study Of The Gambia, Colin C. Williams Dec 2010

The Illusion Of Capitalism In Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study Of The Gambia, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate critically the meta-narrative that there is no alternative to capitalism. Building upon an emerging body of post-structuralist thought that has begun deconstructing this discourse in relation to western economies and post-Soviet societies, this paper further extends this critique to Sub-Saharan Africa by investigating the degree to which people in the Gambia rely on the capitalist market economy for their livelihood. Reporting the results of 80 household face-to-face interviews (involving over 500 people), the finding is that only a small minority of households in contemporary Gambian society rely on the formal market economy alone …

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Rethinking The Nature Of Community Economies: Some Lessons From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams Dec 2010

Rethinking The Nature Of Community Economies: Some Lessons From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This paper contributes to a small but growing body of thought that has questioned the hegemony of capitalism by revealing the persistence of multifarious economic practices in everyday community economies. To further advance this school of thought, first, a conceptual framework is developed to map the diverse economic practices used by communities and second, this is applied through a survey of 600 households in Ukraine. The outcome is to reveal that just as multifarious economic practices prevailed under state socialism, the same applies in societies in transition to capitalism, suggesting that there are alternative futures for community economies beyond market …

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Women Entrepreneurs In The Indian Informal Sector, Colin C. Williams Dec 2010

Women Entrepreneurs In The Indian Informal Sector, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – Studies on women entrepreneurs either view women through a structuralist lens, as marginalised populations engaged in low-quality work, or through a neo-liberal lens, as engaged in relatively higher quality endeavour more as a rational choice. The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically these explanations in relation to women entrepreneurs in the informal sector in India. Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate the contrasting explanations of structuralist and new liberal approaches, questionnaire surveys were conducted in two phases, namely 2007 and 2010, over a period of several months. The sample design was stratified random and the sample was taken …

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Re-Theorizing The Informal Economy In Western Nations: Some Lessons From Rural England, Colin C. Williams Jan 2010

Re-Theorizing The Informal Economy In Western Nations: Some Lessons From Rural England, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

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Spatial Variations In The Character Of Off-The-Books Entrepreneurship: Lessons From A Study Of Contrasting Districts In Moscow, Colin C. Williams Dec 2009

Spatial Variations In The Character Of Off-The-Books Entrepreneurship: Lessons From A Study Of Contrasting Districts In Moscow, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Although there is growing recognition that many entrepreneurs start-up trading partially or wholly off-the-books, few have evaluated whether the character of this hidden enterprise culture varies spatially. To begin to do so, this paper evaluates whether and how the nature of off-the-books entrepreneurship differs across an affluent, mixed and deprived district of Moscow. Drawing upon 313 face-to-face interviews, the finding is that wholly legitimate enterprises represent just the tip of the iceberg in Moscow. Beneath the surface in all the districts is a large hidden enterprise culture. However, off-the-books entrepreneurship in the affluent district is comprised more of registered businesses …

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Entrepreneurship And The Informal Economy: An Overview, Colin C. Williams Dec 2009

Entrepreneurship And The Informal Economy: An Overview, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

In recent decades, the field of entrepreneurship studies has become increasingly interested in the relationship between entrepreneurship and the informal economy. This paper reviews this burgeoning sub-field of entrepreneurship studies that recognizes how entrepreneurs do not always conduct their business affairs wholly by the rulebook. Evaluating this rapidly growing body of literature, it reviews the findings regarding the preponderance of entrepreneurs to engage in the informal economy, the nature of such informal entrepreneurship, the characteristics of informal entrepreneurs and the motives underpinning participation in such endeavor, along with the competing theories that have sought to explain engagement in this type …

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Joining Up The Fight Against Undeclared Work In Europe, Colin C. Williams Dec 2009

Joining Up The Fight Against Undeclared Work In Europe, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Report to the European Commission on the feasibility of creating a platform for cooperation between labour inspectorates and other relevant monitoring and enforcement bodies, to prevent and fight undeclared work

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Explaining The Off-The-Books Enterprise Culture Of Ukraine: Reluctant Or Willing Entrepreneurship?, Colin C. Williams Dec 2009

Explaining The Off-The-Books Enterprise Culture Of Ukraine: Reluctant Or Willing Entrepreneurship?, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

In recent years, there has been a growing realisation that beyond the realm of legitimate entrepreneurship is a large hidden enterprise culture composed of entrepreneurs conducting some or all of their trade off-the-books. Until now, however, few have evaluated how many entrepreneurs start-up their ventures trading off-the-books and why they do so. Reporting face-to-face interviews conducted in Ukraine during 2005-06 with 331 entrepreneurs, the finding is not only that the vast majority (90%) operate partially or wholly off-the-books but also that they are not all driven by necessity and as a last resort and survival strategy into entrepreneurship. Revealing how …

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