The informal economy in Tunisia: measurement and linkage with the formal economy
by Mehdi Abid; Ousama Ben Salha
International Journal of Economics and Business Research (IJEBR), Vol. 6, No. 2, 2013

Abstract: This paper has two main goals. The first is to estimate the size of the informal economy between 1980 and 2009 in Tunisia. The second objective is to check for the causal relationship from the formal economy to the informal economy. When calculating the size of the informal economy, we were based on a recent environmental approach proposed by Karanfil and Ozkaya (2007). Our results, based on the estimation of the Kalman filter, reveal that the informal GDP has a U-shaped curve over time. Furthermore, the informal GDP is found to range between 14% and 29% of the formal GDP during the same period. Cointegration and Granger causality tests show that there is a causal relationship running from the formal GDP to the informal GDP. Moreover, the former seems to negatively affect the latter.

Online publication date: Mon, 30-Dec-2013

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Economics and Business Research (IJEBR):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com