Social Norm, the Informal Sector, and Unemployment

Ann-Sofie Kolm and Birthe Larsen

FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, 2002, vol. 59, issue 3, 407-

Abstract: In examining the macroeconomic effects of increased government control of the informal sector, this paper develops a two-sector general-equilibrium model featuring matching frictions on the labor market and a social norm. Conducting informal work, or employing a worker informally, is associated with expected fines and payments of a moral cost, given that there is a social norm against tax evasion. This framework facilitates an analysis of how wage setting, unemployment, and the size of the informal sector are affected by punishment policies, which has been ignored in the previous literature. Furthermore, the inclusion of an endogenously determined norm against tax evasion may explain interregional differences in relative sizes of the formal and the informal sectors for similar tax and punishment systems.

JEL-codes: H26 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Working Paper: Social norm, the informal sector and unemployment (2002)
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:mhr:finarc:urn:sici:0015-2218(2002/200308)59:3_407:sntisa_2.0.tx_2-j

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
Mohr Siebeck GmbH & Co. KG, P.O.Box 2040, 72010 Tübingen, Germany

Access Statistics for this article

FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis is currently edited by Alfons Weichenrieder, Ronnie Schöb and Jean-François Tremblay

More articles in FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis from Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Wolpert ().