Constrained Gazelles: High Potentials in West Africa’s Informal Economy

Michael Grimm, Peter Knorringa and Jann Lay

World Development, 2012, vol. 40, issue 7, 1352-1368

Abstract: The informal sector is typically characterized as being very heterogeneous and possibly composed of two clearly distinct segments, sometimes called the lower and upper tiers. However, empirical evidence shows that even among lower tier entrepreneurs profitability can be quite high. We combine these findings and develop an innovative approach to identify what we call “constrained gazelles”, next to the well-known survivalists in the lower tier and growth-oriented top-performers in the upper tier. Our sample of informal entrepreneurs in seven West-African countries allows to link the relative size of these three groups to the structural and macroeconomic environment in these countries.

Keywords: informality; entrepreneurship; capital; managerial ability; targeting; West-Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (84)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X12000460
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Constrained gazelles. High potentials in West Africa’s informal economy (2012)
Working Paper: Constrained gazelles: high potentials in West Africa's informal economy (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:40:y:2012:i:7:p:1352-1368

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.03.009

Access Statistics for this article

World Development is currently edited by O. T. Coomes

More articles in World Development from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().