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Economic decline and the growth of the informal sector: The Guyana and Jamaica experience
Author(s) -
Bennett Karl M.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of international development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1328
pISSN - 0954-1748
DOI - 10.1002/jid.3380070204
Subject(s) - informal sector , currency , economics , developing country , economic sector , development economics , demographic economics , economic growth , economy , macroeconomics
This paper employs the currency ratio model to estimate the size of the informal sector in Guyana and Jamaica from 1977 to 1989. It is shown that the official estimate of income for both countries, by excluding the informal sector, significantly understates true income levels. Fluctuations in the level of income generated by the informal sector mirrored fluctuations in estimates of official income for Guyana, but moved in a countercyclical fashion to official estimates for Jamaica. It is concluded that the growth of the sector did little to protect the poor in both countries from overall economic decline.