Misplaced Pages

#699300

109-482: It used to cover a surface of 909 km². Major towns in the district were Big Ada and Ada Kasseh . Ada Foah , which was the district capital, is located at the beach and river estuary. Most of the inhabitants (85.9%) belonged to the cultural group of the Dangme. It had a population of 71,671. According to oral history, the people of Ada, who are called Dangmeli, are believed to have migrated from Tagologo near Shai-Osodoku in

218-561: A choice. Youth have the capability to acknowledge their family's financial limitations and many feel that it is their moral obligation to contribute to the family income. Thus, they end up working without asking for an allowance or wage, because kids recognize that their parents cannot bring home enough income alone, thus their contribution is necessary and their involvement becomes instrumental for their family's economic survival. Emir Estrada and Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo have gone to predominantly Latino communities of Los Angeles, CA. to observe

327-501: A considerable part of tax evasion is practised by a much smaller number of (elite) people. As an example German shadow economy in 2013 was €4.400 per capita, which was the 9th highest place in EU, whereas according to OECD only 11.2% of employed people were self-employed (place 18). On the other hand, Greece's shadow economy was only €3.900 p.c (place 13) but self-employment was 36.9% (place 1). An extreme example of shadow economy camouflaged by

436-507: A cooling effect. Rainfall is generally heavy during the major seasons between March and September. However, during the harmattan season the area is very dry with no rainfall at all. In general, humidity is very high due to the proximity of the sea, the Volta River and other water bodies. Because 82% of the population lives in rural areas the pressure on the land and on the resources is growing. Consequently, many young people are moving away from

545-401: A greater commitment to family responsibilities, prevent women from entering the formal sector. Major occupations in the informal sector include home-based workers (such as dependent subcontract workers, independent own account producers, and unpaid workers in family businesses) and street vendors , which both are classified in the informal sector. Women tend to make up the greatest portion of

654-588: A lack of access to education, which can contribute to social isolation and a lack of future opportunity. UNICEF considers domestic work to be among the lowest status, and reports that most child domestic workers are live-in workers and are under the round-the-clock control of their employers. Some estimates suggest that among girls, domestic work is the most common form of employment. During times of economic crisis many families experience unemployment and job loss, thus compelling adolescents to supplement their parents’ income by selling goods or services to contribute to

763-439: A large extent "parasitic" and therefore eradicating them (e.g., through tighter enforcement) could produce positive effects on the economy. The most prevalent types of work in the informal economy are home-based workers and street vendors . Home-based workers are more numerous while street vendors are more visible. Combined, the two fields make up about 10–15% of the non-agricultural workforce in developing countries and over 5% of

872-474: A living to many people that are employed in fishing and fish processing. However, this coastline is constantly being eroded by the strong tidal waves that are washing away or threatening several villages that are located close to the beach. In order to solve this problem, the construction of a sea defense wall is under way since 2010. The long, sandy beaches are certainly some of the most important tourist attractions. However, there are certain obstacles such as

981-483: A lot faster and better adjusted to the passengers needs. Coming from the Volta Region , passengers can cross the river with the ferry that connects Anyanui and Ada Foah twice on market day every Wednesday. Electricity and water supply was broadly introduced in the district in the 1990s which accelerated tourism development considerably. The district's coconut palm fringed coastline is 45 kilometers long and provides

1090-529: A low proportion of informal economy (below 30%) like the finance and business sector (e.g. in Switzerland, Luxembourg), the public service and personal Service Sector (as in Scandinavian countries) as well as the retail industry , wholesale and repair sector are dominant in countries with extremely high GDP per capita i.e. industrially highly developed countries. The diagram also shows that in absolute numbers

1199-441: A necessity for survival. Participating in the informal economy is becoming normalized due to the lack of resources available in low-income and marginalized communities, and no matter how hard they have to work, will not advance in the economic hierarchy. When a parent is either unemployed or their job is on low demand, they are compelled to find other methods to provide for themselves but most importantly their children. Yet, due to all

SECTION 10

#1732851611700

1308-494: A number of European countries formally changed their GDP calculations to include prostitution and narcotics sales in their official GDP statistics, in line with international accounting standards, prompting an increase between 3-7%. The informal sector can be described as a grey market in labour . Other concepts that can be characterized as informal sector can include the black market (shadow economy, underground economy), agorism , and System D . Associated idioms include " under

1417-464: A police station, Fire service station and a small library. The local radio station Radio Ada that broadcasts in the local language Dangme has its office just outside Big Ada and a newly established radio station Eagle Fm which broadcast in English and the local language [danmge] Big Ada is also the office of the paramount King of Ada Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku who is head over the various local chiefs. Ada

1526-411: A private company. The art of building specially shaped coffins is a common and unique practice carried out in the district. Depending on the profession of the deceased, the coffin can be of the shape of a fish (fisherman), book (teacher) or sewing machine (tailor), to name but a few. Local food like Makun ke luei - banku and tilapia, Otim - Kenkey, and sometimes Fufu can be purchased at numerous places in

1635-448: A result, the gender gap in terms of wage is higher in the informal sector than the formal sector. Labor markets , household decisions, and states all propagate this gender inequality . Workers in the informal economy lack a significant voice in government policy. Not only is the political power of informal workers limited, but the existence of the informal economy creates challenges for other politically influential actors. For example,

1744-463: A taxonomic framework that clarifies the distinctions between informal, illegal , unreported and unrecorded economies, and identifies their conceptual and empirical linkages and the alternative means of measuring their size and trends. Since then, the informal sector has become an increasingly popular subject of investigation in economics, sociology , anthropology and urban planning . With the turn towards so called post-fordist modes of production in

1853-479: A taxonomy for describing unobserved economies including the informal economy as being characterized by some form of "non-compliant behavior with an institutional set of rules". He argues that circumvention of labor market regulations specifying minimum wages, working conditions, social security, unemployment and disability benefits gives rise to an informal economy, which deprives some workers of deserved benefits while conveying undeserved benefits to others. The term

1962-432: A vital role when it comes to language barriers. The kids are not simply workers, they achieve an understanding of how to manage a business and commerce. The division of the economy into formal and informal sectors has a long heritage. Arthur Lewis in his seminal work Economic Development with Unlimited Supply of Labour , published in the 1950s, was the celebrated paradigm of development for the newly independent countries in

2071-417: Is also much larger than most people realize, with women playing a huge role. The working poor, particularly women, are concentrated in the informal economy, and most low-income households rely on the sector to provide for them. However, informal businesses can also lack the potential for growth, trapping employees in menial jobs indefinitely. On the other hand, the informal sector can allow a large proportion of

2180-470: Is also useful in describing and accounting for forms of shelter or living arrangements that are similarly unlawful, unregulated, or not afforded protection of the state. 'Informal economy' is increasingly replacing 'informal sector' as the preferred descriptor for this activity. Informality, both in housing and livelihood generation has historically been seen as a social ill, and described either in terms of what participant's lack, or wish to avoid. In 2009,

2289-484: Is at least as early as Sumer . Yet no such regulation has ever been wholly enforceable. Archaeological and anthropological evidence strongly suggests that people of all societies regularly adjust their activity within economic systems in attempt to evade regulations. Therefore, if informal economic activity is that which goes unregulated in an otherwise regulated system then informal economies are as old as their formal counterparts, if not older. The term itself, however,

SECTION 20

#1732851611700

2398-473: Is attempting to measure the unreported economy, normally associated with tax evasion, or the unrecorded or non-observed economy, associated with the amount of income that is readily excluded from national income and produce accounts due to the difficulty of measurement. There are numerous estimates of tax noncompliance as measured by tax gaps produced by audit methods or by "top down" methods. Friedrich Schneider and several co-authors claim to have estimated

2507-401: Is included, the percentages rise, in some countries like India and many sub-Saharan African countries beyond 90%. Estimates for developed countries are around 15%. In recent surveys, the informal economy in many regions has declined over the past 20 years to 2014. In Africa, the share of the informal economy has decreased to an estimate of around 40% of the economy. In developing countries,

2616-575: Is located on the riverbank of the Volta used to be an important trading center, profiting from the river's fantastic location. From there, goods were transported to the hinterland by canoe past the Shai and Akwamu mountains. The economic activities reached a peak around 1901 when a transportation system called the Volta River Transport System was launched. Ada's decline started with the construction of

2725-611: Is much more recent. The optimism of the modernization theory school of development had led people in the 1950s and 1960s to believe that traditional forms of work and production would disappear as a result of economic progress in developing countries. As this optimism proved to be unfounded, scholars turned to study more closely what was then called the traditional sector and found that the sector had not only persisted, but in fact expanded to encompass new developments. In accepting that these forms of productions were there to stay, scholars and some international organizations quickly took up

2834-422: Is not always the case, the nature of informal employment - low and irregular income that is not enough to pay union dues, fast-changing decentralized work locations and a self-perception of informal workers as self-employed pose barriers to informal economy trade union organizing. As a result, trade unions are inclined to oppose the informal sector, highlighting the costs and disadvantages of the system. Producers in

2943-708: Is part of the Greater Accra Region . It is bordered on the west by the Dangme West District , on the east and north by Keta district , South Tongu and North Tongu ( Volta Region ) and on the south by the Gulf of Guinea . The Dangme East District is conveniently located off the main connecting road between the Ghanaian capital of Accra and the Togolese capital of Lomé . Its proximity to Accra (about 120 km distance) and

3052-484: Is popular with policymakers and champions of free market policies like The Economist , some scholars of the informal economy have criticized it both for methodological flaws and normative bias. In the second half of the 1990s many scholars started to consciously use the term "informal economy" instead of "informal sector" to refer to a broader concept which includes enterprises as well as employment in developing, transition, and advanced industrialized economies. Among

3161-516: Is spoken by people in the Dangme East and Dangme West District . English is also spoken by nearly everyone since it is the official language of the country. Many people also speak Twi , and some Ewe (to communicate with neighboring people of the Volta Region who may speak Ewe). The district capital Ada Foah , is located at the beach and river estuary. Ada Foah is also the major town and serves as

3270-400: Is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government. Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countries, it is sometimes stigmatized as troublesome and unmanageable. However, the informal sector provides critical economic opportunities for the poor and has been expanding rapidly since the 1960s. Integrating

3379-582: Is the venue of the well-known, annual Asafotufiami festival that takes place starting from the first Thursday in the first week of August and is one of the biggest events in the district. The event celebrates ancient wars(firing of musketry) and draws a big crowd of people to Ada. Historically, the Asafotufiami is a remembrance of ancient wars with neighboring tribes such as the Ewe . The "Asafotu" are companies of warriors who fire their muskets in celebration. These days,

Dangme East District - Misplaced Pages Continue

3488-662: The Accra - Aflao motorway. The Ada people first migrated from Ancient Egypt , then to Nigeria in a town called Ile-Ife , through Benin among the Fon People then to Togo , and finally to Big Ada in the Greater Accra Region (present day Ghana ). Big Ada was one of the first places the Ada people settled. From there, they spread out to different settlements, but always perceived Big Ada as their home base. The village that

3597-471: The Dangme West District . It has been estimated that several hundred years ago they initially settled at a place called Okorwhem in the south-western part of the district. After several years of inhabitancy, part of the people decided to move downwards to Togbloku and settled there. While staying at Togbloku, the founder of the Kudzragbe clan, Torgbe Adela Atsu discovered that Big Ada was a good place to stay and

3706-519: The Financial Secrecy Index (FSI 2013) Germany and some neighbouring countries, ranked among the world's top tax haven countries. The diagram below shows that national informal economies per capita vary only moderately in most EU countries. This is because market sectors with a high proportion of informal economy (above 45%) like the construction sector or agriculture are rather homogeneously distributed across countries, whereas sectors with

3815-513: The Traditional African shrines , Traditional African priest and celebrations present an interesting insight into typical African and Ghanaian life. Local handicrafts such as basket weaving , pottery and rum distilling are carried out at various places in the district and sold on the markets. Salt mining was once the main economic activities of the indigenous till part of the Songho was sold to

3924-413: The 1950s and 1960s. The model assumed that the unorganized sector with the surplus labour will gradually disappear as the surplus labour gets absorbed in the organised sector. The Lewis model is drawn from the experience of capitalist countries in which the share of agriculture and unorganized sector showed a spectacular decline, but it didn't prove to be true in many developing countries, including India. On

4033-474: The 1960s when a lot of developing countries didn't create enough formal jobs in their economic development plans, which led to the formation of an informal sector that didn't solely include marginal work and actually contained profitable opportunities. In the 1980s, the sector grew alongside formal industrial sectors . In the 1990s, an increase in global communication and competition led to a restructuring of production and distribution, often relying more heavily on

4142-475: The Dangmeli and Togbloku people inhabited the area. Ada, according to oral history backed by many historical edifices, was founded by an Adangbe man known as Lomowe jointly with an Ewe man known as Togbe Havi Etse ( who is also the founder of the Kudzragbe clan of Ada). There exist authorities of oral history (concerning this particular facts) in Ada who could be contacted for further verification. The current head of

4251-659: The Dutch sociologist Saskia Sassen viewed the new 'informal' sector as the product and driver of advanced capitalism and the site of the most entrepreneurial aspects of the urban economy, led by creative professionals such as artists, architects, designers and software developers. While this manifestation of the informal sector remains largely a feature of developed countries, increasingly systems are emerging to facilitate similarly qualified people in developing countries to participate. Governments have tried to regulate aspects of their economies for as long as surplus wealth has existed which

4360-448: The Gulf of Guinea. The islands in the river and in the estuary are a wildlife paradise: marine turtles, birds, crocodiles and monkeys are some of the animals living there. The mangrove vegetation in the salty parts of the estuary is another attraction and an important ecosystem. It is however endangered by human activity along with rare animals that are often hunted down. The estuary also offers

4469-483: The Kudzrabe clan at Ada, Nene Tsatsu Pediator could be contacted, since he is a direct descendant of Torgbe Havi Etse.In the olden days the people of Ada spoke two languages, i.e., Ewe and Agdangbe. Ewe language was mainly spoken in the evening/night whiles Dangbe was spoken during the day. Nene Tsatsu Pediator left this earth to join his ancestors sometime in 2020. May his soul rest in perfect peace. The Dangme East District

Dangme East District - Misplaced Pages Continue

4578-556: The Marxian theory since they anticipate the destruction of the pre-capitalist structure as a result of the aggressive growth of capitalism. To them, in the course of development, 'the small fish is being eaten by the big fish'. Therefore, neither in the Marxian theory nor in the classical economic theory, the unorganized sector holds a permanent place in the economic literature. The informal sector has been expanding as more economies have started to liberalize. This pattern of expansion began in

4687-708: The academic, policy and popular literature". As of 2013, the total EU shadow economy had been growing to about 1.9 trillion € in preparation of the EURO driven by the motor of the European shadow economy, Germany, which had been generating approx. 350 bn € per year since the establishment of the Single Market in Maastricht 1993, (see diagram on the right). Hence, the EU financial economy had developed an efficient tax haven bank system to protect and manage its growing shadow economy. As per

4796-458: The advanced developing countries, many workers were forced out of their formal sector work and into informal employment. In a 2005 collection of articles, The Informal Economy. Studies in Advanced and Less Developed Countries , the existence of an informal economy in all countries was demonstrated with case studies ranging from New York City and Madrid to Uruguay and Colombia. An influential book on

4905-523: The availability of employment benefits and rights. These characteristics have led to many nations pursuing a policy of deterrence with strict regulation and punitive procedures. In a 2004 report, the Department for Infrastructure and Economic Cooperation under SIDA explained three perspectives on the role of government and policy in relation to the informal economy. As informal economy has significant job creation and income generation potential, as well as

5014-552: The bed of prior belief. There are many other results in circulation for various countries, for which the data cannot be identified and which are given no more documentation than "own calculations by the MIMIC method". Readers are advised to adjust their valuation of these estimates accordingly. Edgar L. Feige finds that Schneider's shadow economy "estimates suffer from conceptual flaws, apparent manipulation of results and insufficient documentation for replication, questioning their place in

5123-466: The best conditions for water sports like sailing, canoeing, fishing, water skiing, wake boarding and jet skiing. Another important water body and one of the most important salt mining areas in the country is the Songor Lagoon. Additional to visiting it and learning about salt mining it serves as a base for birdwatchers. Temperatures are high throughout the year, ranging from 23 to 33°C, but the sea has

5232-509: The child from a “normal” childhood, and third, child labor is frowned upon. Furthermore, certain people believe that children should not be working because children do not know the risks and the pressure of working and having so much responsibility, but the reality is that for most families, the children are not being forced to work, rather they choose to help sustain their family's income. The youth become forced by their circumstances, meaning that because of their conditions, they do not have much of

5341-403: The cities and turn away from the extended families, having only few children themselves. To combat the major health issues in the country a National Health Insurance Scheme (Ghana) was introduced in 2003 to ensure that all inhabitants have the possibility to contract a health insurance at a reasonable price for 14 Cedis/year (about 7 Euro) and be covered for general treatment. Only 3 years after

5450-447: The combination of monetary and psychological rewards from working in the informal sector proves appealing for many workers. The informal sector was historically recognized as an opposition to formal economy, meaning it included all income earning activities beyond legally regulated enterprises. However, this understanding is too inclusive and vague, and certain activities that could be included by that definition are not considered part of

5559-418: The daily actions of street vendors. They analyze why adults participate in the informal economy. Although it revolves around a negative stigma of deviance, for a majority of individuals, the informal economy is not an ideal choice but an action necessary for survival. While witnessing the constant struggle of Latino individuals to make ends meet and trying to earn money to put food on the table, they witnessed how

SECTION 50

#1732851611700

5668-410: The district for the lack of job opportunities. The development of the district towards a tourism destination is expected to help reducing youth unemployment and change this migration trend. For this purpose special Youth Employment Programs have been put in place to provide youth with community jobs such as teaching assistants, health workers, environmental aids and agricultural workers. The majority of

5777-496: The district. As in the whole country the people are well known for their hospitality and openness towards strangers. 5°46′N 0°37′E  /  5.767°N 0.617°E  / 5.767; 0.617 Big Ada Big Ada is a town in the Ada East District , a district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana . The settlement lies along the road from Ada Kasseh to the district capital Ada Foah , just off

5886-501: The economic hub for the district. The Other major towns in the district are Big Ada and Ada Kasseh . The biggest event in the district is the annual Asafotufiam festival that draws big crowds of mostly domestic tourists to Big Ada and Ada Foah. Funerals also play a big role with their loud and colorful celebrations that take place every weekend. In general, religion and its practice – either Christian or traditional – are present in everyday life and can be witnessed by tourists. Especially

5995-492: The economic implications of a shift of economic activity from the observed to the non-observed sector of the economy. Such a shift not only reduces the government's ability to collect revenues, it can also bias the nation's information systems and therefore lead to misguided policy decisions. The book examines alternative means of estimating the size of various unobserved economies and examines their consequences in both socialist and market oriented economies. Feige goes on to develop

6104-523: The establishment of the Single European Market (1993, Treaty of Maastricht ). Mainly for French and German corporations it led to systematic increase of their informal sectors under liberalized tax laws, thus fostering their mutual competitiveness and against small local competitors. The continuous systematic increase of the German informal sector was stopped only after the establishment of the EURO and

6213-557: The execution of the Summer Olympic Games 2004, which has been the first and (up to now) only in the Single Market. Since then the German informal sector stabilized on the achieved 350 bn € level which signifies an extremely high tax evasion for a country with 90% salary-employment. According to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the key drivers for the growth of

6322-424: The family economy. At the core, youth must compromise their social activities with other youth, and instead prioritize their participation in the informal economy, thus manufacturing a labor class of adolescents who must take on an adult role within the family. Although it revolves around a negative stigma of deviance, for a majority of individuals, mostly people of color, the informal economy is not an ideal choice but

6431-490: The female non- agricultural labor force is in the informal sector. Female representation in the informal sector is attributed to a variety of factors. One such factor is that employment in the informal sector is the source of employment that is most readily available to women. A 2011 study of poverty in Bangladesh noted that cultural norms, religious seclusion, and illiteracy among women in many developing countries, along with

6540-433: The festival is a grand homecoming for the Ada and African diaspora . As many of the Ada's were enslaved during the transatlantic Slave trade . The celebration starts on a Thursday in the first week of August and goes on until the following week. Young men are initiated and instructed in the ancient tactics of warfare, the paramount chief of Ada Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku the chiefs of the various clans and invited guests such as

6649-504: The financial market is Luxembourg where the relative annual shadow economy is only 8% of the GDP which is the second lowest percentage (2013) of all EU countries whereas its absolute size (€6.800 per capita) is the highest. [REDACTED] According to development and transition theories, workers in the informal sector typically earn less income, have unstable income, and do not have access to basic protections and services. The informal economy

SECTION 60

#1732851611700

6758-802: The formal economy who are protected by employment laws and regulations. A landmark study conducted by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization found that exposure to long working hours caused an estimated 745,000 fatalities from ischemic heart disease and stroke events in 2016. A systematic review and meta-analysis of health services use and health outcomes among informal economy workers, when compared with formal economy workers, found that these workers are less likely to use health services and more likely to have depression, highlighting their substantial health disadvantage. In developing countries, most of

6867-559: The formal sector but choose to remain informal to earn higher profits from the cost advantages of not complying with taxes and regulations. The third argues that informality is a survival strategy for low-skill individuals, who are too unproductive to ever become formal. According to the study the first view corresponds to 9.3 percent of all informal forms, while the second corresponds to 41.9 percent. The remaining forms correspond to low-skill entrepreneurs who are too unproductive to ever become formal. The author suggests that informal forms are to

6976-413: The formal sector can similarly feel threatened by the informal economy. The flexibility of production, low labor and production costs, and bureaucratic freedom of the informal economy can be seen as consequential competition for formal producers, leading them to challenge and object to that sector. Last, the nature of the informal economy is largely anti-regulation and free of standard taxes, which diminishes

7085-553: The formal sector which have regular hours of operation, a regular location and other structured benefits. According to a 2018 study on informality in Brazil, there are three views to explain the causes of informality. The first view argues that the informal sector is a reservoir of potentially productive entrepreneurs who are kept out of formality by high regulatory costs, most notably entry regulation. The second sees informal forms as "parasitic forms" which are productive enough to survive in

7194-402: The good connection with public transport make the district an obvious holiday and short-trip location. The quality of the road is good compared to similar roads around the country. Away from the main roads, tourists without their own transportation can get around easily with car or motorcycle taxis or boats. Since there are no schedules or regular routes transport is less predictable but in general

7303-648: The harbor sea port in Takoradi that made the transport on the Volta River unnecessary. Today, Ada is not as popular as far as social life and economic activities are concerned. Hardly any traces of physical structures such as factories and shops remain. Big Ada consists of two main roads passing through the town and a highway at the outskirts of the town leading straight to the estuary with many smaller paths in between. The area has some guesthouses, hotels such as Aqua Safari Resort Treasure Island etc.. many chop bars and spots,

7412-538: The higher end of the spectrum are upper-tier informal activities such as small-scale service or manufacturing businesses, which have more limited entry. The upper-tier informal activities have higher set-up costs, which might include complicated licensing regulations, and irregular hours of operation. However, most workers in the informal sector, even those are self-employed or wage workers, do not have access to secure work, benefits, welfare protection, or representation. These features differ from businesses and employees in

7521-476: The implementation, already 56% of the inhabitants of the district are covered by the health insurance. Although there is a high number of schools in the district, in the recent years a lack of pre-school facilities could be noted. This has been addressed and plans are in place to solve this problem. The local language in the Dangme East District is Dangme , also called Adangme. It is a Kwa language and

7630-515: The increased labor force in a formal manner. Expansion can also be explained by the increased subcontracting due to globalization and economic liberalization . Finally, employers could be turning toward the informal sector to lower costs and cope with increased competition. Such extreme competition between industrial countries occurred after the expansion of the EC to markets of the then new member countries Greece, Spain and Portugal, and particularly after

7739-497: The informal economy and there is a higher preponderance of impoverished employees working in the informal sector. In addition, workers in the informal economy are less likely to benefit from employment benefits and social protection programs. For instance, a survey in Europe shows that the respondents who have difficulties to pay their household bills have worked informally more often in the past year than those that do not (10% versus 3% of

7848-440: The informal economy can produce significant goods and services, create necessary jobs, and contribute to imports and exports is critical for governments. As the work in informal sector is not monitored or registered with the state, its workers are not entitled to social security, and they face unique challenges when affiliated in or creating trade unions . Informal economy workers are more likely to work long hours than workers in

7957-462: The informal economy in the twenty-first century include: Historically, development theories have asserted that as economies mature and develop, economic activity will shift from the informal to the formal sphere. In fact, much of the economic development discourse is centered around the notion that formalization indicates how developed a country's economy is; for more on this discussion see the page on fiscal capacity . However, evidence suggests that

8066-410: The informal economy into the formal sector is an important policy challenge. In many cases, unlike the formal economy, activities of the informal economy are not included in a country's gross national product (GNP) or gross domestic product (GDP). However, Italy has included estimates of informal activity in their GDP calculations since 1987, which swells their GDP by an estimated 18% and in 2014,

8175-502: The informal economy is Hernando de Soto 's El otro sendero (1986), which was published in English in 1989 as The Other Path with a preface by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa . De Soto and his team argued that excessive regulation in the Peruvian and other Latin American economies forced a large part of the economy into informality and thus prevented economic development. While accusing

8284-420: The informal economy, is a contentious issue due to the restrictions and laws in place for youth have to work. One of the main dilemmas that arise when children engage in this type of work, is that privileged adults, denounce children participation as forced labor. Due to the participant being young, the adults are viewed as “bad” parents because first they cannot provide for their children, second they are stripping

8393-420: The informal economy. As the International Labour Organization defined the informal sector in 2002, the informal sector does not include the criminal economy. While production or employment arrangements in the informal economy may not be strictly legal, the sector produces and distributes legal goods and services. The criminal economy produces illegal goods and services. The informal economy also does not include

8502-408: The informal sector as disruptive to the national economy and a hindrance to development. The justifications for such criticisms include viewing the informal economy as a fraudulent activity that results in a loss of revenue from taxes, weakens unions, creates unfair competition, leads to a loss of regulatory control on the government's part, reduces observance of health and safety standards, and reduces

8611-607: The informal sector can be classified as wage workers, non-wage workers, or a combination of both. Statistics on the informal economy are unreliable by virtue of the subject, yet they can provide a tentative picture of its relevance. For example, informal employment makes up 58.7% of non-agricultural employment in Middle East – North Africa, 64.6% in Latin America , 79.4% in Asia , and 80.4% in sub-Saharan Africa . If agricultural employment

8720-461: The informal sector, as well as non-economic factors. First, they felt they would earn more money through their informal sector work than at a job in the formal economy. Second, even if workers made less money, working in the informal sector offered them more independence, the chance to select their own hours, the opportunity to work outside and near friends, etc. While jobs in the formal economy might bring more security and regularity, or even pay better,

8829-509: The informal sector, often ending up in the most erratic and corrupt segments of the sector. In India, women working in the informal sector often work as ragpickers , domestic workers , coolies, vendors, beauticians, construction laborers, and garment workers. According to a 2002 study commissioned by the ILO, the connection between employment in the informal economy and being poor is stronger for women than men. While men tend to be over-represented in

8938-476: The informal sector. Over the past decade, the informal economy is said to account for more than half of the newly created jobs in Latin America. In Africa it accounts for around eighty percent. Many explanations exist as to why the informal sector has been expanding in the developing world throughout the past few decades. It is possible that the kind of development that has been occurring has failed to support

9047-422: The lack of toilets in the villages close to the beach and the consequence of using the beach as such. Also, garbage – mostly plastic – is piling up at the beach, some of it disposed there, some washed up from the sea by the tide. Apart from the sandy beaches, another natural attraction in the district is the Volta River and its estuary . The Volta River forms the eastern boundary of the district before it reaches

9156-474: The largest part of informal work, around 70%, is self-employed. Wage employment predominates. The majority of informal economy workers are women. Policies and developments affecting the informal economy have thus a distinctly gendered effect. To estimate the size and development of any underground or shadow economy is quite a challenging task since participants in such economies attempt to hide their behaviors. One must also be very careful to distinguish whether one

9265-454: The limitations and the lack of jobs, children eventually cooperate with their parent/s and also work for their family's economic well-being. By having to assist in providing for the family, children miss out on their childhood because instead of engaging in activities other youth their age participate in, they are obligated to take on an adult role, put the family first and contribute to the family's well-being. The participation of adolescents in

9374-454: The material and political power of government agents. Whatever the significance of these concerns are, the informal sector can shift political power and energies. The relationship between the informal sectors and poverty certainly is not simple nor does a clear, causal relationship exist. An inverse relationship between an increased informal sector and slower economic growth has been observed though. Average incomes are substantially lower in

9483-520: The measure of formality, defining participants in the informal economy as those "who do not have employment security, work security and social security". While both of these definitions imply a lack of choice or agency in involvement with the informal economy, participation may also be driven by a wish to avoid regulation or taxation. This may manifest as unreported employment , hidden from the state for tax, social security or labour law purposes, but legal in all other aspects. In 2016 Edgar L. Feige proposed

9592-447: The name of "benchmarking", although these operations are not always clearly documented. The data are typically transformed in ways that are not only undeclared but have the unfortunate effect of making the results of the study sensitive to the units in which the variables are measured. The complexity of the estimation procedure, together with its deficient documentation, leave the reader unaware of how these results have been shorted to fit

9701-400: The other hand, probabilistic migration models developed by Harris and Todaro in the 1970s envisaged the phenomenon of the informal sector as a transitional phase through which migrants move to the urban centers before shifting to formal sector employment. Hence it is not a surprise to see policy invisibility in the informal sector. Curiously, the informal sector does not find a permanent place in

9810-454: The participation of children either benefits the family or even hurt it. Through field notes derived from their participation, Estrada states, “children are not the ‘baggage’ that adult immigrants simply bring along. In the case of street vendors, we see that they are also contributors to family processes”. Estrada's findings demonstrate that children are working in order to help contribute to their household income, but most importantly, they play

9919-427: The population to escape extreme poverty and earn an income that is satisfactory for survival. Also, in developed countries, some people who are formally employed may choose to perform part of their work outside of the formal economy, exactly because it delivers them more advantages. This is called 'moonlighting'. They derive social protection, pension and child benefits and the like, from their formal employment, and at

10028-536: The population works in the informal sector . Apart from commercial salt mining companies that employ about 300 people at the Songor lagoon there are no bigger companies employing the local population. There is no social security system in place that would help people with no income such as unemployed, children and senior citizens. So far, the traditional system of family support is still working in rural areas but gradually losing its basis as more and more young people move to

10137-649: The president or vice president of Ghana and inited chiefs and kings from other regions of the country gather for processions and speeches and parties and celebrations continue throughout the whole festival. On Sunday, there is an open-air church service. The following days are filled with beach parties, boat races, river excursions and football matches. https://ghana.places-in-the-world.com/2303041-place-big-ada.html https://thegadangme.com/asafotufiami/ 5°49′N 0°37′E  /  5.817°N 0.617°E  / 5.817; 0.617 Informal sector An informal economy ( informal sector or grey economy )

10246-427: The progression from informal to formal sectors is not universally applicable. While the characteristics of a formalized economy – full employment and an extensive welfare system – have served as effective methods of organizing work and welfare for some nations, such a structure is not necessarily inevitable or ideal. Indeed, development appears to be heterogeneous in different localities, regions, and nations, as well as

10355-743: The reproductive or care economy, which is made up of unpaid domestic work and care activities. The informal economy is part of the market economy, meaning it produces goods and services for sale and profit. Unpaid domestic work and care activities do not contribute to that, and as a result, are not a part of the informal economy. The informal economy under any governing system is diverse and includes small-scaled, occasional members (often street vendors and garbage recyclers) as well as larger, regular enterprises (including transit systems such as that of La Paz, Bolivia ). Informal economies include garment workers working from their homes, as well as informally employed personnel of formal enterprises. Employees working in

10464-655: The respondents). Children work in the informal economy in many parts of the world. They often work as scavengers (collecting recyclables from the streets and dump sites), day laborers, cleaners, construction workers, vendors, in seasonal activities, domestic workers, and in small workshops; and often work under hazardous and exploitative conditions. It is common for children to work as domestic servants in parts of Latin America and parts of Asia . Such children are very vulnerable to exploitation: often they are not allowed to take breaks or are required to work long hours; many suffer from

10573-521: The ruling class of 20th century mercantilism , de Soto admired the entrepreneurial spirit of the informal economy. In a widely cited experiment, his team tried to legally register a small garment factory in Lima. This took more than 100 administrative steps and almost a year of full-time work. Feige's review of the Other Path places the work in the context of the informal economy literature. Whereas de Soto's work

10682-475: The same time have tax and other advantages from working on the side. From the viewpoint of governments, the informal sector can create a vicious cycle. Being unable to collect taxes from the informal sector, the government may be hindered in financing public services , which in turn makes the sector more attractive. Conversely, some governments view informality as a benefit, enabling excess labor to be absorbed, and mitigating unemployment issues. Recognizing that

10791-518: The sector can find some sort of work which will result in cash earnings), a lack of stable employer-employee relationships, and a small scale of operations. Workers who participate in the informal economy are typically classified as employed. The type of work that makes up the informal economy is diverse, particularly in terms of capital invested, technology used, and income generated. The spectrum ranges from self-employment or unpaid family labor to street vendors, shoe shiners, and junk collectors. On

10900-442: The shadow economy per capita is related to the wealth of a society (GDP). Generally spoken, the higher the GDP the higher the shadow economy, albeit non-proportional. There is a direct relationship between high self-employment of a country to its above average shadow economy. In highly industrialized countries where shadow economy (per capita) is high and the huge private sector is shared by an extremely small elite of entrepreneurs

11009-420: The size and trend of what they call the "shadow economy" worldwide by a currency demand / MIMIC model approach that treats the "shadow economy" as a latent variable. Trevor S. Breusch has critiqued the work and warned the profession that the literature applying this model to the underground economy abounds with alarming Procrustean tendencies. Various kinds of sliding and scaling of the results are carried out in

11118-440: The subject from 2016 reviewed the meaning and measurement of unobserved economies and is particularly critical of estimates of the size of the so-called shadow economy which employ Multiple Indicator multiple cause methods, which treat the shadow economy as a latent variable. The informal sector is largely characterized by several qualities: skills gained outside of a formal education, easy entry (meaning anyone who wishes to join

11227-441: The surveys about the size and development of the shadow economy (mostly expressed in percent of official GDP) are those by Feige (1989), and Schneider and Enste (2000) with an intensive discussion about the various estimation procedures of the size of the shadow economy as well as a critical evaluation of the size of the shadow economy and the consequences of the shadow economy on the official one. Feige's most recent survey paper on

11336-462: The table ", "off the books", and "working for cash". The original use of the term 'informal sector' is attributed to the economic development model put forward in 1955 by W. Arthur Lewis , used to describe employment or livelihood generation primarily within the developing world . It was used to describe a type of employment that was viewed as falling outside of the modern industrial sector . An alternative definition from 2007 uses job security as

11445-490: The term informal sector (later known as the informal economy or just informality). The term Informal income opportunities is credited to the British anthropologist Keith Hart in a 1971 study on Ghana published in 1973, and was coined by the International Labour Organization in a widely read study on Kenya in 1972. In his 1989 book The Underground Economies: Tax Evasion and Information Distortion , Edgar L. Feige examined

11554-451: The top segment of the informal sector, women overpopulate the bottom segment. Men are more likely to have larger-scale operations and deal in non-perishable items while few women are employers who hire others. Instead, women are more likely to be involved in smaller-scale operations and trade food items. Women are under-represented in higher-income employment positions in the informal economy and over-represented in lower-income statuses. As

11663-441: The trade unions struggle to organize the informal economy and often formal workers organized in unions have no immediate interest in improving the status of informal workers due to fears of status loss. Yet the informal economy negatively affects membership and investment in the trade unions. Laborers who might be formally employed and join a union for protection may choose to branch out on their own instead. While this hostile attitude

11772-448: The type of work practiced. For example, at one end of the spectrum of the type of work practiced in the informal economy are small-scale businesses and manufacturing; on the other "street vendors, shoe shiners, junk collectors and domestic servants." Regardless of how the informal economy develops, its continued growth that it cannot be considered a temporary phenomenon. As it has been historically stigmatized, policy perspectives viewed

11881-527: The workforce in developed countries. While participation in the informal sector can be stigmatized, many workers engage in informal ventures by choice, for either economic or non-economic reasons. Economic motivations include the ability to evade taxes, the freedom to circumvent regulations and licensing requirements, and the capacity to maintain certain government benefits. A study of informal workers in Costa Rica illustrated other economic reasons for staying in

#699300