Bohme, MarcusThiele, Rainer2017-06-272017-06-272011-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/27330Employing a unique dataset that covers households from six West African capitals, this paper provides new evidence on the demand for informal sector products and services. Authors first investigate whether demand linkages exist between formal and informal products and distribution channels. In a second step, authors estimate demand elasticity's based on Engel curves. Authors find strong demand-side linkages between the formal and informal sector, with the exception that informal goods are hardly bought through formal distribution channels. The estimated demand elasticity's tend to show that rising incomes are associated with a lower propensity to consume informal sector goods and to use informal distribution channels.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO CAPITALACCESS TO CREDITACCESS TO FINANCEACCESS TO FORMAL CREDITACCOUNTSACCUMULATION RATEADVANCED ECONOMYAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICSBANK CREDITBANK POLICYBARRIERS TO ENTRYBIASESBORROWINGBUSINESS ACTIVITIESBUSINESS ACTIVITYBUSINESS ASSOCIATIONSBUSINESS ECONOMICSBUSINESS OWNERSBUSINESS RISKCAPACITY BUILDINGCAPITAL ACCUMULATIONCAPITAL CONSTRAINTCAPITAL COSTCAPITAL INJECTIONCAPITAL MARKETCAPITAL REQUIREMENTSCAPITAL RETURNSCAPITAL SHORTAGESCAPITAL STOCKCHECKSCOLLATERALCONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONSCOST OF CAPITALCREDIT CONSTRAINED FIRMSCREDIT CONSTRAINTCREDIT HISTORYCREDIT INSTITUTIONSCREDIT MARKETCREDIT RATIONINGDEGREES OF RISKDEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICSDEVELOPING COUNTRYDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDIVERSIFICATIONDUMMY VARIABLEDURABLEDURABLE GOODSEARNINGSECONOMETRIC MODELSECONOMIC CONSTRAINTSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC POLICIESECONOMIC STATISTICSENDOWMENTSENTERPRISE PERFORMANCEENTREPRENEURENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITYENTRY BARRIERSEQUIPMENTEXCESSIVE RISKEXPECTED UTILITYEXPECTED VALUEEXPENDITUREEXPENDITURESEXTERNAL FINANCEFAMILY FINANCEFAMILY LOANSFARMERSFEMALE ENTREPRENEURSFINANCIAL MEANSFINANCIAL RESOURCESFINANCIAL SUPPORTFIXED COSTSFORMAL BANKSGDPGROUP OF FIRMSGROWTH THEORYHIGH INTEREST RATESHOLDINGHOUSEHOLD WEALTHHOUSEHOLDSHUMAN CAPITALINCOME GROWTHINFORMATION ASYMMETRIESINFORMATION ON ENTREPRENEURSINFORMATION ON INVESTMENTINSTRUMENTINSURANCEINSURANCE MARKETINSURANCE PRODUCTSINTEREST RATEINTERNAL FINANCEINTERNAL FUNDSINVENTORYINVESTINGINVESTMENT BEHAVIORJOB CREATIONLABOR FORCE SURVEYLABOR MARKETLACK OF ACCESSLEVEL OF RISKLIQUID WEALTHLIQUIDITYLIQUIDITY CONSTRAINTLIQUIDITY PREMIUMLIQUIDITY PROBLEMSLOANLOTTERYMARGINAL COSTMARGINAL PRODUCTMARGINAL UTILITYMARGINAL UTILITY OF CONSUMPTIONMARKET CONSTRAINTSMARKET ECONOMYMARKET FAILUREMARKET INTEREST RATEMICRO DATAMICRO ENTERPRISESMICRO-CREDITMICRO-ENTERPRISEMICRO-FINANCEMICRO-FINANCE INSTITUTIONSMICROCREDITMICROENTERPRISESMIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIESMONEY LENDERSMORAL HAZARDOPPORTUNITY COSTPHYSICAL CAPITALPOLITICAL ECONOMYPORTFOLIOPRICE RISKPRICE UNCERTAINTYPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPRODUCTIVE INVESTMENTPROFITABILITYPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYRATE OF RETURNRATES OF RETURNRECEIPTSREINVESTMENTRETAINED EARNINGSRISK AVERSIONRISK PERCEPTIONSRISK PREMIUMRISK-AVERSE INDIVIDUALSSAFE ASSETSAVINGSSELF-EMPLOYMENTSMALL BUSINESSSMALL ENTERPRISESSMALL-SCALE ENTREPRENEURSSOURCE OF CREDITSOURCES OF FINANCESTART-UPTAXTAXISTRADE SECTORTRADINGTRANSITION COUNTRYTRANSITION ECONOMYTRUST FUNDUNIONVALUE ADDEDWEALTHWorking PaperWorld Bank10.1596/27330