The scope and scale of the informal food economy of South African urban residential townships: Results of a small-area micro-enterprise census

Growing urbanisation in South Africa is reflected in burgeoning Working class and informal township settlements on the fringes of its major towns and cities. Paired with this is an increasing reliance on cash as the primary means of economic transaction, which has in turn stimulated the growth of micro-enterprise business activities within the township context. This article discusses the findings of an eight-township small-area census which occurred between 2010 and 2013 in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Durban townships representing 250 000 residents. The researchers were able to establish the scope and scale of informal food and drink retailing in these localities. Of the 10 049 micro-enterprises located in the study, some 3966 (or 39% of the total) trade in food. These include enterprises in primary production, fresh produce retailing, grocery retailing from house and spaza shops, and informal foodservice enterprises. Food is the basis for much township informal business and plays an important role in making food increasingly affordable and locally accessible, and in creating cash employment. The article builds on the knowledge base of the township informal economy role in bolstering food security needs for the marginalised.     

Are consumers at the base of the pyramid willing to pay for nutritious foods?

Base of the Pyramid (BoP) consumers living in the urban informal settlements of developing countries spend over 60% of their income on food, yet malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency remain widespread among these populations, pointing to the inadequacy of the foods they consume in terms of quality and quantity. In this paper we examine BoP consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for nutritious multi-composite porridge flour (improved flour) in the informal settlements of East Africa. The analysis is based on experimental data collected from 600 households in the informal settlements of Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya (300 in each country) in 2016. We use Tobit regression models to analyse determinants of WTP for the improved porridge flour. Results show that both Kenyan and Ugandan BoP consumers are willing to pay a premium for the improved porridge flour. In addition, providing nutrition information about the flour, characteristics of household head, economic status of the household, and presence of young children between six and 59 months in the household, influence WTP for the safe and nutritious porridge flour. The paper concludes by providing recommendations for enhancing nutrition among poor consumers in the informal settlements of developing countries.     

经济欠发达地区民间借贷问题研究——基于桂林的样本数据

随着社会主义市场经济的发展,民间借贷现象逐渐被重视,而经济欠发达地区的民间借贷行为由于其鲜明的特点和运行机理尤其引人关注。本文以桂林辖区民间借贷为样本,在分析民间借贷现状、特征的基础上,试图探讨经济欠发达地区民间借贷的经济政策效应及监测体系,以达到为货币政策制定和执行提供参考的目的。     

Distributional implications of informal economy in the EU countries: Accounting for the spread of tax evasion benefits and cultural characteristics

This study provides evidence about the impact of informal economy on income inequality by using annual cross-country panel data from 28 European Union countries observed during the period 2005–2017. Particular attention is dedicated to the cultural setting which is expected to impact taxpayers’ behaviour and thereby income distribution. The study reveals a relationship between the size of the underground economy and income inequality, which is negative when approaching domestic informality and positive when international tax evasion by individuals is related to the top-bottom income disparity. Moreover, a delay of one-year is needed for these effects to occur, sustaining the hypothesis of secondary consequences of the informality. The study also shows that a set of cultural peculiarities are relevant for the nexus of international tax evasion by individuals and income polarisation. The inequality enhancing effect of the offshore activities is larger in countries with high degree of uncertainty avoidance and power distance, and low level of indulgence and long-term orientation respectively.     

The motives of off-the-books entrepreneurs: necessity- or opportunity-driven?

In recent years, it has become common to represent entrepreneurs as either necessity- or opportunity-driven. Drawing upon face-to-face interviews in England with 70 entrepreneurs trading wholly or partially off-the-books, this paper evaluates critically this dichotomous representation. The finding is that squeezing the motives of off-the-books entrepreneurs into one side or the other of this dichotomy not only over-simplifies their rationales since both necessity and opportunity motives are often involved but also obfuscates how their motives change over time. The outcome is a call to replace this either/or depiction with a richer and more nuanced both/and understanding of off-the-books entrepreneurs that recognises their diverse and dynamic motives.

Informal Sector and Manufacturing Location: In Search of the Missing Links

Abstract

Although the informal sector is very large and unevenly distributed within developing countries, its relative size and location have not been investigated from the perspective of location models. This paper builds a modified Core–Periphery model where formal and informal firms compete in consumer markets. The model suggests that in a peripheral region, where informal goods constitute a competitive alternative to formal goods, a larger critical mass of workers is needed for the formal sector to become profitable. Informal sector competitiveness, however, also increases formal firms' sensitivity to home market effects. Thus, indirectly, a competitive informal sector can foster formal manufacturing agglomeration.

RÉSUMÉ Bien que le secteur informel soit très étendu et distribué de façon irrégulière dans les pays en voie de développement, son envergure et sa distribution relatives n'ont fait l'objet d'aucune étude sur le plan de modèles de localisation. La présente communication crée un modèle « centre–périphérie » modifié, dans lequel des entreprises officielles et non officielles rivalisent sur des marchés de consommation. D'après ce modèle, dans une zone périphérique où les produits informels constituent une alternative à des produits officiels, une masse critique de travailleurs plus importante est nécessaire afin que le secteur officiel devienne rentable. Toutefois, la compétitivité du secteur informel accro??t également la sensibilité des entreprises officielles à des effets sur le marché interne. En conséquence, un secteur informel compétitif peut, indirectement, encourager une agglomération de fabrication officielle.

EXTRACTO Aunque el sector informal es muy amplio y está irregularmente distribuido dentro de los países en desarrollo, su tamaño relativo y localización no se han investigado desde la perspectiva de modelos de localización. Este estudio construye un modelo modificado de centro–periferia donde empresas formales e informales compiten en mercados de consumo. El modelo sugiere que, en una región periférica donde las mercancías informales constituyen una alternativa competitiva a las mercancías formales, el sector formal necesita una mayor masa crítica de trabajadores para ser rentable. No obstante, la competitividad del sector informal también aumenta la sensibilidad de las empresas formales a los efectos del mercado doméstico. Por lo tanto, indirectamente, un sector informal competitivo puede fomentar la aglomeración de la industria manufacturera formal.

     

Informal economy, wage goods and accumulation under structural adjustment theoretical reflections based on the Tanzanian experience

Economic development in sub-Saharan Africa under structuraladjustment witnessed the upsurge of informal sector development—thedevelopment of unregulated labour-intensive activities, in partexport-oriented. This paper argues that two factors played animportant role in shaping the dynamics of informal sector development:(1) the process of the relative cheapening of wage goods asa result of their importation, partly financed through foreignaid, thereby lowering unit-labour costs in labour-intensiveproduction, and (2) the processes at work of subsidising realwages by other forms of economic security as a result of multiple,diversified and spatially extended livelihood strategies. Whilethese factors undoubtedly brought a new vitality to economicdevelopment, this paper questions the long-run sustainabilityof this new trend for two reasons. One is its dependence onforeign aid to finance imports. The other is that it does notappear to propel endogenous increases in productivity by achievinggreater synergy in intersectoral linkages between agricultureand industry.     

影响中国房地产市场发展的主要制度安排研究

影响我国房地产市场的主要制度安排有五种：房地产住房供给和保障制度、房地产土地供给制度、房地产金融制度、房地产税收制度和存在于我国居民购房行为中的非正式制度。本文对这些制度安排的主要内容及其变迁做了分析,并研究了这些制度安排对我国房地产发展的影响。     

非正规部门竞争、政治寻租与新创企业市场创新

市场创新是新创企业生存发展的根本,然而新兴经济体背景下新创企业的市场创新受到多种特定因素的影响。基于制度基础观,利用世界银行中国企业调查数据,实证考察了非正规部门竞争和政治寻租对新创企业市场创新的影响。研究发现,非正规部门竞争和政治寻租均对新创企业的市场创新具有显著的正向影响,但政治寻租未强化非正规部门竞争对企业市场创新的正向影响;非正规竞争导致的对知识产权保护的需求并非是引致新创企业进行政治寻租的主要原因,资金需求和躲避严苛繁琐的政府管制的需要是引诱企业参与政治寻租的主要原因。因此,政策制定者不必过分担忧非正规部门竞争对新创企业的负面影响,而应通过推进企业注册登记便利化和加强知识产权保护逐步消除非正规经济;要通过持续深化市场化改革和简政放权消除企业寻租的动机。     

R & D税收激励有效性与影响因素

基于生产函数理论抽象出盈利能力和研发程度是R&D税收激励效应的两个关键因素,进而采用2012-2015年全国高新技术企业调查数据,分别检验了15%税率式优惠与研发加计扣除政策的有效性及其影响因素。实证结果表明：15%税率式优惠与加计扣除政策均能激励企业创新,而加计扣除激励效果显著优于15%税率式优惠;15%税率式优惠政策效应受企业盈利能力影响较大,而加计扣除政策受企业研发投入的作用较大;15%税率式优惠政策对高新制造业、服务业和文化产业创新激励效果不显著,而加计扣除对高新制造业和文化产业研发密集型行业创新具有显著的激励作用;15%税率式激励对成熟度较高企业创新具有较好的激励效应,而研发费用加计扣除政策对成熟度较低企业创新具有较强的促进作用。