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Social capital as a substitute for formality: Evidence from Bolivia

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  • Annen, Kurt

Abstract

The paper studies the role of social capital in the urban informal sector in Bolivia. It shows that a formal firm has about 6.4 times the sales of an informal firm with no social capital, but informal firms use their social capital to compensate for the lack of formal productivity benefits. By being formal, firms obtain permanent visibility because they can operate a shop or a visible production location and they can produce in locations with better public infrastructure. Informal firms, in contrast, sell in one place – typically in street markets in front of formal shops – and produce in another — typically in the outskirts. Social capital increases accessibility of informal firms and provides them with security benefits at their production location.

Suggested Citation

  • Annen, Kurt, 2013. "Social capital as a substitute for formality: Evidence from Bolivia," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 82-92.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:31:y:2013:i:c:p:82-92
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2013.04.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Sekkat, Khalid, 2015. "The formal and informal institutional framework of capital accumulation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 754-771.
    2. Bjornskov, Christian & Bogetic, Zeljko & Hillman, Arye & Popovic, Milenko, 2014. "Trust and Identity in a Small, Post-Socialist, Post-Crisis Society," EconStor Preprints 95968, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Asali, Muhammad, 2015. "Compulsory Military Service and Future Earnings: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 8892, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Goeschl, Timo & Jarke, Johannes, 2014. "Trust, but verify? When trustworthiness is observable only through (costly) monitoring," WiSo-HH Working Paper Series 20, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory.
    5. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Dinh, Hinh T., 2015. "Social capital, product imitation and growth with learning externalities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 41-54.
    6. Prosper Senyo Koto, 2017. "Is Social Capital Important In Formal-Informal Sector Linkages?," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(02), pages 1-16, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social capital; Formal and informal institutions; Informal sector; Small firms; Bolivia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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