Publication: In From the Shadow : Integrating Europe's Informal Labor
Date
2012
ISSN
Published
2012
Author(s)
Abstract
This book is about Magda and Jacek and
millions of others like them, who earn a living working
full- or part-time in Europe's untaxed markets for
goods, services, and labor. Magda was certified as a
hairdresser years ago, and she's very proud of the
salon apprenticeship she did shortly after. She learned a
lot and made good friends but was never fully comfortable
working for somebody else. Jacek's clients pay him in
cash, and he pays his men in cash as well. He sometimes
needs to show a license to get the trade price on parts and
materials. But he can keep it up-to-date by declaring only
part of what he actually earns to the tax office. This book
ventures a general conclusion about what policy makers can
do to bring more economic activity in from the shadow:
Although it may be necessary to improve the structural
incentives created by taxation, social protection policies,
and labor market regulation, doing so is not sufficient for
substantive improvement to be achieved. To back up this
general conclusion, the book presents a large body of
evidence indicating that much more than the fairly
mechanical incentive structures of taxation, social policy,
and labor market regulation is at work in shaping the
circumstances that lead people into the shadowy unregulated
and untaxed markets for goods, services, and labor.
Citation
“Koettl, Johannes; Packard, Truman; Montenegro, Claudio E.. 2012. In From the Shadow : Integrating Europe's Informal Labor. Directions in Development : Human Development. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/9377 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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