This paper employs regression discontinuity methods to identify the effect of formality on Brazilian micro-firm performance. The SIMPLES program introduced in November 1996 consolidated multiple taxes and social security contributions into a single payment and reduced taxes for eligible small...

This paper employs regression discontinuity methods to identify the effect of formality on Brazilian micro-firm performance. The SIMPLES program introduced in November 1996 consolidated multiple taxes and social security contributions into a single payment and reduced taxes for eligible small...

The authors derive a methodology for analyzing logit models in a rotating panel context. They then apply the technique to test two theories of why and when salaried workers enter the informal self-employed sector. In the traditional view, workers fired from formal jobs queue in the informal...

The share of the workforce in self-employment and the level of turnover are shown to be unreliable measures of labor market distortion and rigidity. Both are shown to be more affected by standard economic and demographic variables - the level of formal sector productivity, real interest rates,...

Does the timing of the transition into informal self-employment follow a life-cycle pattern where credit-constrained workers first accumulate capital in the formal sector? Or does self-employment correspond better to a traditional safety-net for the unemployed? Gonzalez and Maloney derive a...