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Welfare and the depth of informality: Evidence from five African countries

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  • Eva-Maria Egger
  • Cecilia Poggi
  • Héctor Rufrancos

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between household poverty and depth of informality by proposing a new measure of informality at the household level. It is defined as the share of activities (hours worked or income earned) without social insurance for wage workers in the household. We apply cross-sectional regressions to five urban sub-Saharan African countries, showing that a household head informality dummy obscures a non-linear relationship between the depth of household informality and welfare outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva-Maria Egger & Cecilia Poggi & Héctor Rufrancos, 2021. "Welfare and the depth of informality: Evidence from five African countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-25, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-25
    as

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    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2021-25-welfare-depth-informality-Africa.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Enrique Alaniz & T.H. Gindling & Catherine Mata & Diego Rojas, 2020. "Transforming informal work and livelihoods in Costa Rica and Nicaragua," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-100, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel & Barrientos, Armando & Hickey, Samuel & Hulme, David, 2012. "Social Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa: Getting the Politics Right," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 163-176.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informality; Measurement; Poverty; Social protection; Sub-Saharan Africa;
    All these keywords.

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