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Using original qualitative ethnographic field interviews and quantitative field survey results, Consumption, Informal Markets, and the Underground Economy explores the rationale for and model of 'off the books' consumption in a borderlands environment, While 'off the books' consumption is not exceptional in the United States, it is much more common and nearly universal along the U.S-Mexico border. Within the border zone of South Texas, consumption informality is in fact a way of life where 98.9% of South Texans surveyed have consumed informal or underground products. For example, households may employ services such as a coyote (human smuggler), a nanny, or a computer technician to clandestinely bring a family member or valued worker across the border, provide care for children, or repair a home computer, respectively, in transactions that go unrecorded and, more often than not, undetected by the government. Consumption, Informal Markets, and the Underground Economy focuses on Hispanic (Latino) consumers from a distinctive region in the United States where informal and underground markets thrive. Using original qualitative ethnographic field interviews and quantitative field survey results, this exciting new volume explores the rationale for and model of 'off the books' consumption in a borderlands environment

This study examines the scope and determinants of firm registration among employer firms of White-owned businesses (WOBs) and Latino-owned businesses (LOBs) in the US. The primary data is derived from the 2020 Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative nationally representative survey of 3,500 WOBs and 4,145 LOBs. The determinants of firm registration are derived from entrepreneur demographics and firm characteristics, utilizing a binomial logistic regression to predict the odds of group membership of (un)registered employer firms. The scope of firm registration reveals about 80% of employer firms are registered. LOBs and immigrant-owned firms outpace registration levels of WOBs and native-owned businesses. Larger employer firms by annual sales and number of employees are more likely to be registered than their smaller business counterparts.

This research explores the competitive environment for urban formal sector firms competing against peer formal sector firms behaving informally in Central America. Explored is the upper bound of the formal-informal continuum in a regional economic environment of persistent and widespread economic informality where formal firms may employ informal tactics to gain competitive advantage versus their formal competitors. The 2010 World Bank Enterprise Surveys form the basis for empirical analyses. The results suggest formal firms utilizing informal practices is widespread and is influenced by firm maturity, firm location, industry sector, firm legal status, firm organization, ownership composition, regulatory environment, international quality certification, web presence, entry into global markets, and firm size.

The purpose of this study is to advance understanding of the Hispanic contribution to the engagement and production of the sharing and informal economies in the US. The study is situated within the domains of the sharing economy and informality within a broader frame of entrepreneurship. Specifically, Hispanic participation rates, rationale for engagement, and the major drivers of involvement in the production of the sharing and informal economies are analyzed. To evaluate this, data are reported from a nationally representative subsample of Hispanics derived from the US Federal Reserve Board's Enterprising and Informal Work Activities Survey (EIWA) conducted in the late fall of 2015. The finding is that more than one-third of Hispanics engage in EIWA. Hispanics participate in EIWA primarily as a means to earn extra income or as a key avenue to earn a living. By choice, relatively affluent Hispanics have the largest stake in sharing and informal economies. However, it is the lowest income Hispanics that engage in EIWA out of necessity. The major drivers of EIWA participation among Hispanics are revealed. This is the first known study with a nationally representative sample of Hispanics focused on participation rates, rationale for engagement, and drivers of involvement in the production of new age sharing and informal economies.

PurposeEnterprises in developed and developing world environments often begin life in the informal sector operating outside the purview of government oversight. Sectoral firm change, however, from the informal to the formal sector is not well studied. The purpose of this paper is to answer the following research question: "What firm-level markers help explain the movement of firms from the informal to the formal sector?"Design/methodology/approachData from 719 urban formal enterprises included in the 2016 El Salvador Enterprise Survey undertaken by the World Bank forms the basis of the empirical analyses. The survey questionnaire comprehensively encompasses business practices and performance and the overall business environment.FindingsMultivariate results reveal location, firm maturity, problems with land acquisition, a line of credit or active business loan, extortion by street gangs and practices of informal competitors increase the odds of informal firms becoming formal enterprises. Lessening the odds of once informal firms moving to the formal sector include the lack of access to public utilities, visitation by tax officials, formation as a corporation, bank accounts, number of employees and time spent focused upon government regulations.Originality/valueContextualized within the national setting of El Salvador, the integration of informal enterprises into the formal economy and related public policy implications of informal firm regularization are discussed.

Utilizing the 2010 Nicaraguan Enterprise Survey undertaken by the World Bank, I explore the impact of informal sector firm competition upon focal formal sector firms. The impact upon focal formal firms in relation to informal competitive pressures are influenced by firm maturity, firm location, industry sector, firm legal status, perceptions of informality, firm informal heritage, senior level managerial time spent dealing with the governmental regulatory environment, international quality certification, and web presence. Focal formal sector firm competition with registered firms acting in part informally is also explored.