test which government actions work in getting informal firms to register. Firms were randomized to a control group or one …, and a significant but small increase in formalization from inspections. Our LATE estimates of the impact of actually … results show most informal firms won't formalize unless forced to do so, suggesting formality offers little private benefit to …

find little evidence for most of the channels through which formalization is hypothesized to benefit firms, although …The majority of firms in most developing countries are informal. We conducted a field experiment in Sri Lanka which … provided incentives for informal firms to formalize. Offering only information about the registration process and reimbursement …

to uncovered self-employed and informal salaried workers substantially altering the incentives for workers and firms to …, especially in small and medium sized firms. According to our estimates, had the program not been in place, 31.000 more employers …

using nationally representative survey data of Indian manufacturing enterprises for the period 1995-2006. In these years of … account for 90 per cent of total manufacturing employment. In order to contrast between a 'modernization' and a 'stagnation … traditional informal activities is related to increased outsourcing by formal manufacturing enterprises. …

This paper investigates the urbanization of the Indian manufacturing sector by combining enterprise data from formal … the informal sector is moving from rural to urban locations. While the secular trend for India's manufacturing …

, factors related to informality-formality trade-off and the question of formalisation as a solution for firms’ growth. Looking …

Starting in the mid 1970s, Chile implemented comprehensive structural market reforms. Using manufacturing plant …-level data on Chilean firms for years 1980 to 2001, we estimate the role of reforms on efficiency. We analyze aggregate … partially accounted for the improvement in manufacturing performance. …