Endogenous peer effects and level of informality: some evidence from micro and small firms in Cameroon

IF 1.6 Q2 ECONOMICS

REVIEW OF SOCIAL ECONOMY Pub Date : 2020-06-26 DOI:10.1080/00346764.2020.1769166

A. Fambeu, G. D. Mbondo

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Standard economic theory assumes that individuals’ preferences are independent of their social environment. However, this basic assumption seems partly unrealistic because individual utility can be affected by a variety of social interactions. This paper assesses the role of peer effects on the informality of Micro and Small firms. We use the instrumental variable approach with fixed effects on survey data in the informal sector in Cameroon. Our results show a positive impact of informal behavior of peers of the firm on its level of informality. Thus, we find a social multiplier of 9.43 and 4.65 according to the nature of the reference group. These results show that, in reality, a policy leading one firm to formalize will lead at least nine (or four depending on the reference group) others to do so due to peer effects.

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内生同伴效应和非正式程度：来自喀麦隆中小企业的一些证据

标准经济理论假设个人的偏好独立于他们的社会环境。然而，这一基本假设在一定程度上似乎不现实，因为个人效用会受到各种社会互动的影响。本文评估了同伴效应对中小企业非正式性的影响。我们使用工具变量法对喀麦隆非正规部门的调查数据产生固定影响。我们的研究结果表明，公司同行的非正式行为对其非正式程度产生了积极影响。因此，根据参考群体的性质，我们发现了9.43和4.65的社会乘数。这些结果表明，在现实中，由于同行效应，导致一家公司正式化的政策将导致至少九家（或四家，取决于参考群体）其他公司正式化。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

REVIEW OF SOCIAL ECONOMY ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

2.60

自引率

10.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： For over sixty-five years, the Review of Social Economy has published high-quality peer-reviewed work on the many relationships between social values and economics. The field of social economics discusses how the economy and social justice relate, and what this implies for economic theory and policy. Papers published range from conceptual work on aligning economic institutions and policies with given ethical principles, to theoretical representations of individual behaviour that allow for both self-interested and "pro-social" motives, and to original empirical work on persistent social issues such as poverty, inequality, and discrimination.