IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/10111.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Informal Microenterprises in Senegal : Performance Outcomes and Possible Avenues to BoostProductivity and Jobs

Author

Listed:
  • Atiyas,İzak
  • Dutz,Mark Andrew

Abstract

This paper explores differences and similarities across formal and informal microenterprises inSenegal. It uses a new national sample of more than 500 firms, of which two-thirds are informal and over 95 percentare micro-size, employing five or fewer full-time employees. The analysis finds that formal firms have averageperformance outcomes that are in the range of three to five times higher than informal firms. Formal firms are also morelikely than informal firms on average to possess “good” characteristics, namely assets and uses of digitaltechnologies that are positively correlated with productivity, sales, exporting, and employment. Despitethese average differences, informal firms are highly heterogeneous, with a sizable number similar to formal firmsin terms of both performance outcomes and good characteristics: the share of informal firms in the topproductivity and sales deciles having good characteristics is substantial, and one-third of all firms in thehigh-performance cluster based on a data-driven combination of the four performance variables are informal firms.Importantly, several characteristics that are correlates of better performance (being in the top two clusters) forinformal firms are identical to those for all firms in the high-performance cluster: having electricity, having had aloan, and in terms of uses of digital technologies, having a smartphone and using a mobile phone to communicate withsuppliers and customers. However, a sizable number of high-performance informal firms are lagging in terms of good characteristics. That roughly half of formal firms and noinformal firm had a loan implies that it is possible to be in the top performance cluster even without having access tosuch formal financing. That over half of formal firms in the top cluster as well as in the top decile of productivity andsales use inventory control/point of sales software as a management tool while only one informal firm does is bothindicative of the small number of informal firms that use these technologies and suggestive of the potential forperformance improvements if such technologies were used more widely.

Suggested Citation

  • Atiyas,İzak & Dutz,Mark Andrew, 2022. "Informal Microenterprises in Senegal : Performance Outcomes and Possible Avenues to BoostProductivity and Jobs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10111, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099346206292240107/pdf/IDU030a2ea830e9f8043860b7a80aa7a07f14c44.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gabriel Ulyssea, 2020. "Informality: Causes and Consequences for Development," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 525-546, August.
    2. Loayza, Norman V., 1996. "The economics of the informal sector: a simple model and some empirical evidence from Latin America," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 129-162, December.
    3. Gabriel Ulyssea, 2018. "Firms, Informality, and Development: Theory and Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(8), pages 2015-2047, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Blagica Petreski & Marjan Petreski, 2022. "Unregistered micro-performers of business activity in North Macedonia: Analysis with recommendations for a policy action," Finance Think Policy Studies 2022-07/43, Finance Think - Economic Research and Policy Institute.
    2. Ligita Gasparėnienė & Rita Remeikienė & Colin C. Williams, 2022. "Unemployment and the Informal Economy," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-030-96687-4, June.
    3. Guerrero-Amezaga, Maria Elena & Humphries, John Eric & Neilson, Christopher A. & Shimberg, Naomi & Ulyssea, Gabriel, 2022. "Small firms and the pandemic: Evidence from Latin America," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    4. Bíró, Anikó & Prinz, Dániel & Sándor, László, 2022. "The minimum wage, informal pay, and tax enforcement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    5. Brancati, Emanuele & Di Maio, Michele & Rahman, Aminur, 2024. "Finance, informal competition, and expectations: A firm-level analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    6. Francisco B. Galarza & Fernando Requejo, 2019. "Reducing Informality Using Two-Sided Incentives: Theory and Experiment," Working Papers 149, Peruvian Economic Association.
    7. Brambilla, Irene & César, Andrés & Falcone, Guillermo & Gasparini, Leonardo, 2023. "The impact of robots in Latin America: Evidence from local labor markets," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    8. Ulyssea, Gabriel & Ponczek, Vladimir, 2018. "Enforcement of Labor Regulation and the Labor Market Effects of Trade: Evidence from Brazil," IZA Discussion Papers 11783, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Ibrahim Ngouhouo & Loudi Njoya & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "Corruption, Economic Growth and the Informal Sector: Empirical Evidence from Developing Countries," Working Papers 22/014, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    10. Liepmann, Hannah & Pignatti, Clemente, 2024. "Welfare effects of unemployment benefits when informality is high," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    11. Ceyhun Elgin & M. ayhan Köse & Franziska Ohnsorge & Shu Yu, 2021. "Understanding Informality Abstract:," Working Papers 2021/03, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    12. Sanjay Jain, 2021. "Informal employment or informal firms? Regulatory enforcement and the transformation of the informal sector," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-123, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Brenda Samaniego de la Parra & Andrea Otero-Cortés & Leonardo Fabio Morales, 2021. "The Labor Market Effects of Part-Time Contributions to Social Security: Evidence from Colombia," Documentos de Trabajo Sobre Economía Regional y Urbana 19702, Banco de la República, Economía Regional.
    14. Niklas Engbom & Gustavo Gonzaga & Christian Moser & Roberta Olivieri, 2022. "Earnings inequality and dynamics in the presence of informality: The case of Brazil," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1405-1446, November.
    15. Ceyhun Elgin & M. Ayhan Kose & Franziska Ohnsorge & Shu Yu, 2021. "Understanding Informality," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2114, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    16. Roberto Dell'Anno, 2022. "Theories and definitions of the informal economy: A survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1610-1643, December.
    17. Colombo, Emilio & Furceri, Davide & Pizzuto, Pietro & Tirelli, Patrizio, 2024. "Public expenditure multipliers and informality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    18. Fernández, Cristina & Suecún, Cecilia, 2023. "Automation of the labor force and informality with focus on the Colombian case," Informes de Investigación 21023, Fedesarrollo.
    19. Hernando Gutierrez, Luis & Rodriguez-Lesmes, Paul, 2023. "Productivity gaps at formal and informal microfirms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    20. Mbara, Gilbert & Tyrowicz, Joanna & Kokoszczynski, Ryszard, 2020. "Striking a balance: Optimal tax policy with labor market duality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10111. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.