nep-iue New Economics Papers
on Informal and Underground Economics
Issue of 2023‒04‒10
four papers chosen by
Catalina Granda Carvajal
Universidad de Antioquia

  1. Coming Clean on Your Taxes By Sebastian Beer; Ruud de Mooij; Ruud A. De Mooij
  2. The Effect of the Minimum Wage in Latin America's six largest economies By Lucía Ramírez Leira; Carlo Lombardo; Leonardo Gasparini
  3. Social vulnerability, exposure to environmental risk factors and accessibility to healthcare services: Evidence for 2, 000+ slums and informal settlements in Argentina By Alfredo Palacios; Julia Gabosi; Caitlin Williams; Carlos Rojas-Roque
  4. Observaciones a algunos diagnósticos y recomendaciones de la misión de empleo 2021 By Francisco José Pérez Torres

  1. By: Sebastian Beer; Ruud de Mooij; Ruud A. De Mooij
    Abstract: This paper develops a simple model to explore whether a higher detection probability for offshore tax evaders—e.g., because of improved exchange of information between countries and/or due to digitalization of tax administrations—renders it optimal for governments to introduce a voluntary disclosure program (VDP) and, if so, under what terms. We find that if the VDP is unanticipated, it is likely to be optimal for a revenue-maximizing government to introduce a VDP with relatively generous terms, i.e., a low or even negative penalty. When anticipated, however, the VDP is neither incentive compatible nor optimal, as it induces otherwise compliant taxpayers to evade tax. A VDP can then only be beneficial if tax evasion induces an external social cost beyond the direct revenue foregone, e.g., due to adverse effects on overall tax morale. In contrast to the common view that VDPs should come along with additional enforcement effort, we find that governments should relax enforcement if the VDP itself provides more powerful incentives to come clean.
    Keywords: tax evasion, voluntary disclosure program, tax amnesty
    JEL: H26
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10295&r=iue
  2. By: Lucía Ramírez Leira; Carlo Lombardo; Leonardo Gasparini
    Keywords: Minimum Wage, Wages, Labor Markets, Inequality, Informality, Latin America
    JEL: J22 J38 J31 K31
    Date: 2021–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4512&r=iue
  3. By: Alfredo Palacios; Julia Gabosi; Caitlin Williams; Carlos Rojas-Roque
    Keywords: Slums, environmental health, urban health, healthcare services, poverty
    JEL: I14 R58 Q53
    Date: 2021–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4502&r=iue
  4. By: Francisco José Pérez Torres
    Abstract: Este ensayo presenta un balance de los aspectos sustanciales expuestos en el informe ejecutivo de la Misión de Empleo 2021. De un lado identifica la propuesta de Protección Social Universal como la más importante contribución para el devenir de la vida laboral de los colombianos, en particular por su modalidad de financiación y los beneficios para la población y las empresas. Del otro lado, puntualiza aspectos críticos ignorados por la Misión conexos con el problema de la ocupación en la economía informal y el empleo formal del país; controvierte el diagnóstico y las recomendaciones sobre el salario mínimo y discute la inconveniencia para que el país retorne a un esquema de Salario Mínimo diferencial. Se argumenta por qué el crecimiento de la economía generado por el modelo de desarrollo económico extractivista del país y las reformas al marco jurídico laboral, en los últimos 40 anos, han probado ser variables poco eficientes para superar la economía informal y el desempleo, lo que estaría significando la necesidad, no contemplada por la Misión, para que el país implemente audaces políticas sociales y económicas que provoquen transformaciones estructurales definitivas. *** This essay presents a balance of the substantial aspects exposed in the executive report of the Employment Mission 2021. On the one hand, it identifies the Universal Social Protection proposal as the most important contribution to the future of the working life of Colombians, in particular by its method of financing and the benefits for the population and companies. On the other hand, it points out critical aspects ignored by the Mission related with the problem of employment in the informal economy and formal employment in the country; it disputes the diagnosis and the recommendations on the minimum wage and discusses the inconvenience for the country to return to a differential Minimum Wage scheme. It argues why the growth of the economy generated by the country's extractivist economic development model and the reforms to the labor legal framework, in the last 40 years, have proven to be inefficient variables to overcome the informal economy and unemployment, which it would be signifying the need, not contemplated by the Mission, for the country to implement bold social and economic policies that provoke definitive structural transformations.
    Keywords: Sistemas de Seguridad Social, Productividad, Igualdad, Informalidad y Mercado Laboral
    JEL: H55 O54 E24 D63 E26 J46
    Date: 2023–03–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000178:020686&r=iue

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