Rural Informal Credit Markets And The Effectiveness Of Policy Reform

This paper reviews the literature on the informal economy, focusing first on empirical findings and then on existing approaches to modeling informality within both partial and general equilibrium environments. We concentrate on labour and credit markets, since these tend to be most affected by informality. The phenomenon is particularly important in emerging and other developing economies, given their high degrees of informal labour and financial services and the implications these have for the effectiveness of macroeconomic policy. We emphasize the need for dynamic general equilibrium (DGE) and ultimately dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models for a full understanding of the costs, benefits and policy implications of informality. The survey shows that the literature on informality is quite patchy, and that there are several unexplored areas left for research.

A key to understanding why some rural development policies succeed and some fail is found in this book. The editors contend that established economic models are inadequate to interpret the behavior of rural markets and nonmarket institutions. This book investigates economic institutions and contractual arrangements in credit, labor, and land markets and analyzes their implications for the behavior of the rural sector. Drawing on 15 short case studies, five overview and nine theoretical chapters explore some of the most pressing problems facing developing countries: how to promote financial integration of the rural sector, how to rationalize the use of land and water, and how to design and administer tax and transfer policies. The book contributes to theory, empirical methodology, and the solution of concrete policy questions.

- What has been achieved in rural finance and institutional reform during more than a decade of transition and what challenges remain? - What are the special needs of South Eastern European countries to attract agricultural credit and finance to ...

This year's special section (Part 3) entitled 'Economic impacts of transboundary plant pests and animal diseases'.

This annual report provides basic information on the global agricultural situation. A review of developments in food security opens this year's report, with new estimates on the proportion & number of undernourished people in the developing world. Also included is an analysis of the Asian financial crisis & its likely effects on agricultural production, trade, & food security. Special features include: an examination of the potential of rice fish farming; a chapter on rural non-farm income & employment; & a diskette housing time series data for nearly 150 countries, country groups, & regions in English, French, & Spanish. Recommended in: ALA's Guide to Reference Books.

The State of Food and Agriculture 2000 reports on current developments and issues of importance for world agriculture, analysing global agricultural trends as well as the broader economic environments surrounding the agricultural sector in a comprehensive world review ... An important feature of this year's issue is the special chapter, World food and agriculture: lessons from the past 50 years, which gives an overview of developments that have taken place in world agriculture and food security over the past half-century ... -- from Back Cover.

A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development. It finds that pervasive informality is associated with significantly weaker economic outcomes--including lower government resources to combat recessions, lower per capita incomes, greater poverty, less financial development, and weaker investment and productivity.