Who Fears Competition From Informal Firms ? [electronic resource] : Evidence From Latin America / Gonzalez, Alvaro S.

By: Gonzalez, Alvaro SContributor(s): Gonzalez, Alvaro S | Lamanna, FrancescaMaterial type: TextTextPublication details: Washington, D.C., The World Bank, 2007Description: 1 online resource (42 p.)Subject(s): Compliance costs | Cost savings | Economic development | Economic growth | Environment | Environmental Economics and Policies | Environments | Fixed costs | Metals | Microfinance | National Income | Productivity growth | Tax ratesAdditional physical formats: Gonzalez, Alvaro S.: Who Fears Competition From Informal Firms ?Online resources: Click here to access online Abstract: This paper investigates who is most affected by informal competition and how regulation and enforcement affect the extent and nature of this competition. Using newly-collected enterprise data for 6,466 manufacturing formal firms across 14 countries in Latin America, the authors show that formal firms affected by head-to-head competition with informal firms largely resemble them. They are small credit constrained, underutilize their productive capacity, serve smaller customers, and are in markets with low entry costs. In countries where the government is effective and business regulations onerous, formal firms in industries characterized by low costs to entry feel the sting of informal competition more than in other business environments. Finally, the analysis finds that in an economy with relatively onerous tax regulations and a government that poorly enforces its tax code, the percentage of firms adversely affected by informal competition will be reduced from 38.8 to 37.7 percent when the government increases enforcement to cover all firms.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
No physical items for this record

This paper investigates who is most affected by informal competition and how regulation and enforcement affect the extent and nature of this competition. Using newly-collected enterprise data for 6,466 manufacturing formal firms across 14 countries in Latin America, the authors show that formal firms affected by head-to-head competition with informal firms largely resemble them. They are small credit constrained, underutilize their productive capacity, serve smaller customers, and are in markets with low entry costs. In countries where the government is effective and business regulations onerous, formal firms in industries characterized by low costs to entry feel the sting of informal competition more than in other business environments. Finally, the analysis finds that in an economy with relatively onerous tax regulations and a government that poorly enforces its tax code, the percentage of firms adversely affected by informal competition will be reduced from 38.8 to 37.7 percent when the government increases enforcement to cover all firms.

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.

Powered by Koha