On the determinants and consequences of informal contracting

As documented by Macauley and others, informal contracts are pervasive in modern economies. Yet, systematic empirical evidence on them is still limited. In this paper, we provide a framework to investigate the determinants and consequences of informal contracting. First, we present an illustrative m...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gil, R. (Ricard)|||/items/b4e033fc-53ca-49b3-9986-2af37638442d, Zanarone, G. (Giorgio)|||/items/f3c26215-d279-44bf-a414-bda6af531691
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/117060
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10171/117060
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Contract labor
Labor economics
Contract employment
Informal sector
Economic structure
Descripción
Sumario:As documented by Macauley and others, informal contracts are pervasive in modern economies. Yet, systematic empirical evidence on them is still limited. In this paper, we provide a framework to investigate the determinants and consequences of informal contracting. First, we present an illustrative model that organizes key predictions from the theoretical literature. Next, we discuss selected empirical works that shed light on the model's relevance and testability. Overall, we find combined support for most theoretical predictions from the model, and we observe that significant progress has been made over time at measuring key determinants of informal contracting such as the parties’ discount factor and fallback option. We conclude by discussing strategies for testing theoretical predictions for which conclusive evidence is still missing.