Tackling the Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Europe’s Urban Population

<p>The aim of this paper is to evaluate themost effective way of tackling the urban informaleconomy. It has been recently argued that theconventional rational economic actor approach(which increases the costs of participating in theurban informal economy so that they outweighthe benefi ts) sho...

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Main Authors: Colin C. WILLIAMS, Ioana A. HORODNIC
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca 2017-06-01
Series:Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://rtsa.ro/tras/index.php/tras/article/view/529
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author Colin C. WILLIAMS
Ioana A. HORODNIC
author_facet Colin C. WILLIAMS
Ioana A. HORODNIC
author_sort Colin C. WILLIAMS
collection DOAJ
description <p>The aim of this paper is to evaluate themost effective way of tackling the urban informaleconomy. It has been recently argued that theconventional rational economic actor approach(which increases the costs of participating in theurban informal economy so that they outweighthe benefi ts) should be replaced or complementedby a social actor approach which focusesupon improving tax morale. To evaluate the effectivenessof these supposedly alternative approachesto tackling the participation of urbanpopulations in the informal economy, we reportthe results of face-to-face interviews conductedin 2013 with 17,886 urban dwellers across the 28Member States of the EU. Multilevel logistic regressionanalysis reveals that both approachesare effective in signifi cantly reducing the urbanpopulation’s participation in the informal economy.When tax morale is high, however, the rationaleconomic actor approach of increasing thecosts has little impact on reducing the probabilityof engagement in the informal economy. The paperconcludes by calling for greater emphasis onimproving the tax morale of the urban populationso as to tackle the informal economy in the urbanareas of Europe and beyond.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-eee762e81e364dedb3d0eac24b319e9d2024-03-14T07:28:37ZengBabes-Bolyai University, Cluj-NapocaTransylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences1842-28452017-06-01135113915410.24193/tras.51E.9546Tackling the Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Europe’s Urban PopulationColin C. WILLIAMS0Ioana A. HORODNIC1Professor of Public Policy, Management School, University of Sheffi eld, Sheffi eld, United KingdomPhD, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, ‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ University, Iași, Romania<p>The aim of this paper is to evaluate themost effective way of tackling the urban informaleconomy. It has been recently argued that theconventional rational economic actor approach(which increases the costs of participating in theurban informal economy so that they outweighthe benefi ts) should be replaced or complementedby a social actor approach which focusesupon improving tax morale. To evaluate the effectivenessof these supposedly alternative approachesto tackling the participation of urbanpopulations in the informal economy, we reportthe results of face-to-face interviews conductedin 2013 with 17,886 urban dwellers across the 28Member States of the EU. Multilevel logistic regressionanalysis reveals that both approachesare effective in signifi cantly reducing the urbanpopulation’s participation in the informal economy.When tax morale is high, however, the rationaleconomic actor approach of increasing thecosts has little impact on reducing the probabilityof engagement in the informal economy. The paperconcludes by calling for greater emphasis onimproving the tax morale of the urban populationso as to tackle the informal economy in the urbanareas of Europe and beyond.</p>https://rtsa.ro/tras/index.php/tras/article/view/529informal sector, institutional theory, tax evasion, tax morale, public policy, urban development, european union
spellingShingle Colin C. WILLIAMS
Ioana A. HORODNIC
Tackling the Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Europe’s Urban Population
Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences
informal sector, institutional theory, tax evasion, tax morale, public policy, urban development, european union
title Tackling the Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Europe’s Urban Population
title_full Tackling the Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Europe’s Urban Population
title_fullStr Tackling the Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Europe’s Urban Population
title_full_unstemmed Tackling the Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Europe’s Urban Population
title_short Tackling the Urban Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Europe’s Urban Population
title_sort tackling the urban informal economy some lessons from a study of europe s urban population
topic informal sector, institutional theory, tax evasion, tax morale, public policy, urban development, european union
url https://rtsa.ro/tras/index.php/tras/article/view/529
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AT ioanaahorodnic tacklingtheurbaninformaleconomysomelessonsfromastudyofeuropesurbanpopulation