The unofficial economy in Africa
By: Rafael La Porta, Andrei Shleifer
Contributors: Shleifer, Andrei; National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 16821; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 16821.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "We examine the productivity of informal firms (those that are not registered with the government) in 24 African countries using field work and World Bank firm level data.  We find that productivity jumps sharply if we compare small formal firms to informal firms, and rises rapidly with the size of formal firms.  Critically, informal firms appear to be qualitatively different than formal firms: they are smaller in size, produce to order, are run by managers with low human capital, do not have access to external finance, do not advertise their products, and sell to largely informal clients for cash.  Informal firms thus occupy a very different market niche than formal firms do, and rarely become formal because there is very little demand for their products from the formal sector"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 5/19/2011.

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