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Political economy
Giovanna Maria Dora Dore, World Economics, March 2019
The informal economy is one of the most complex economic and political phenomena of our time. It exists in rich and poor countries alike, and currently employs almost half of the world’s workers, about 1.8 billion people. •At a value of US$10 trillion, the informal economy is the second-largest economy in the world, after the economy of the United States (at US$14 trillion) and before that of China (at US$8.2 trillion). High taxes, labour costs and social security infrastructures, undeclared work and underreporting are among the most powerful drivers of informality. Measures promoting behavioural changes can help counter its growth, even though controls and penalties remain more popular as tools in the fight against the informal economy. The informal sector remains the fastest-growing part of the world economy and we need a better understanding of what it means for business and society and why it is the preferred operating sector for many entrepreneurs.
Ed Jones, World Economics, March 2018
The World Economy has grown for 57 out of the past 58 years, only the great recession of 2009 saw an interruption in over half a century of continuous growth. Over the whole of the last 5 decades, annual real GDP growth has averaged 3.2%, and 1.6% in per capita terms. Global Real GDP split by continent illustrates that the share of the world’s GDP in the Asian region grew considerably faster than all other continents, from 16.8% in 1960 to 47.0% in 2017. The wealth of Europe and the Americas remains considerably higher compared with Asian and African continents.
George C. Georgiou, World Economics, September 2017
Money laundering is illegal world-wide and constitutes a significant economic inefficiency. Current anti-money laundering and combating the financing (AML/CFT) efforts are primarily driven by the threat of terrorism and drug-trafficking, but the majority of illicit money flows is due to fraud. This paper assesses the costs and benefits of controls on the efficiency of the financial system in modern advanced economies and the less developed economies of the world. The significant costs imposed on financial institutions, increasing levels of regulation and the minuscule illicit money flows intercepted has resulted in moral hazard and significant conflicts of interest.
Friedrich Schneider, World Economics, December 2011
In this paper, the main focus lies on the development and size of the shadow economy labour force in OECD, developing and transition countries. Besides informal employment in the rural and non-rural sector, other measures of informal employment like the share of employees not covered by social security, own account workers or unpaid family workers are also shown. The most influential factors on the shadow labour force are tax policies and state regulation, which, if they rise, increase both. Furthermore the discussion of the recent literature underlines that economic opportunities, the overall situation on the labour market and unemployment are crucial for an understanding of the dynamics of the shadow economy and especially the shadow labour force.
Angus Maddison, World Economics, December 2008
This paper analyses the forces determining per capita income levels of nations
over the past millennium and the prospects to 2030. In the year 1000 AD,
Asian countries were in the lead. By 1820, per capita GDP in Western Europe
and the US was twice the Asian average. The divergence had grown much
bigger by 1950, but by the 1970s, several Asian countries – Japan, South Korea,
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore – had achieved considerable catch up. Since
then, there has been a major surge in China and the beginning of a similar
phenomenon in India. As a result, the Asian share of world income has risen
steadily and, by 2030, will be fairly close to what it was in 1820. Maddison
concludes by comparing his analysis with the Malthusian interpretation of
Oded Galor.
Kevin J. Stiroh , World Economics, March 2002
The growing importance of information technology raises significant challenges
for statisticians and economists. The US national accounts now incorporate
sophisticated measurement tools to capture the rapid rates of technological
change and dramatic improvements in the performance/price ratio of many hightech
assets like computer hardware, software, and telecommunications goods.
These data have been incorporated into traditional sources of growth analyses to
identify the impact of information technology on the US economy. The emerging
consensus is that information technology played a key role in the post-1995
revival of US productivity growth.
Friedrich Schneider, World Economics, December 2001
Estimates of the size of the shadow economy in 21 OECD countries are
presented. The average size of the shadow economy (as a percentage of ‘official’
GDP) over 1999/2000 in these countries is 16.7%. The author concludes that it is
the increasing burden of taxation and social security contributions, combined
with rising state regulatory activities, that are the driving forces for the recent growth in size of the shadow economy in the countries concerned.
Peter Reuter & Victoria Greenfield , World Economics, December 2001
The continuing demand for measures of the size of global drug revenues has
produced a supply of numbers that consistently overstate international financial
flows. This paper shows that, rather than $500 billion, the annual figure in trade
terms may be about $25 billion. As with many refined agricultural products, most
of the revenues go to distributors rather than to primary producing countries. The
authors explore the need for estimates of the global drug markets, address the
difficulties of obtaining ‘good’ numbers, and describe opportunities for
developing better estimates of flows and revenues. There are at least three
reasons for caring about the numbers: they can help to improve understanding of
the drug production and consumption problem and identify appropriate policy
responses.
Jim Thomas, World Economics, March 2000
One answer to the question "How Rich are We?" is to compare levels of National Income either across countries or for a single country over time. However, the relevance of this approach depends on how accurately National Income measures the output of goods and services of a country. While it is difficult to measure, the Black Economy represents the output of goods and services that is not generally captured in the National Income Accounts. This article discusses the problems of measuring the size of the Black Economy and speculates on the questions of who is involved and how. The relative importance of Tax Evasion versus Benefit Fraud is discussed.
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