Understanding the Determinants of Economic Informality in Paraguay

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Introduction: Informality in Paraguayan Context

   • Michael J. Pisani, Fernando G. Ovando Rivarola

   Pages 1-26

3. Literature Review: The Informal Economy

   • Michael J. Pisani, Fernando G. Ovando Rivarola

   Pages 27-49

4. Informality Measures and Models

   • Michael J. Pisani, Fernando G. Ovando Rivarola

   Pages 51-67

5. Logistic Regression Results of In/Formality in Paraguay

   • Michael J. Pisani, Fernando G. Ovando Rivarola

   Pages 69-116

6. Discussion of Results

   • Michael J. Pisani, Fernando G. Ovando Rivarola

   Pages 117-141

7. Policy Recommendations and Conclusions

   • Michael J. Pisani, Fernando G. Ovando Rivarola

   Pages 143-165

8. Back Matter

   Pages 167-181

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For several years, the government of Paraguay has sought to address the issue of informality, both as a response to poverty reduction and a means to expand its tax base.  While effort has been undertaken to describe informality, the government lacks the capacity and perhaps the will to analyze the phenomenon through a robust empirical lens.  Hence, little is known about the informal economy beyond anecdotes, personal interactions, and description. This book is the first to comprehensively, rigorously, and empirically study the determinants of informality in Paraguay.  This book is of vital interest to those studying the Paraguayan economy, development economics, Latin American economics, and informality.

• paraguay
• paraguayan economy
• informality
• economic development
• labor economics
• logistic regression
• informal labor
• economic informality
• latin american economics
• development economics

“This book examines one of the most important aspects of Paraguayan economy and it makes a great contribution to have better understanding on how economic informality works. The authors provide a lucid and penetrating analysis, offer several ways to measure informality and shed light on public policies.” (Dionisio Borda, former Minister of Finance, Paraguay)

• Department of Management, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, USA

  Michael J. Pisani

• Centro de Análisis y Difusión de la Economía Paraguaya, Asunción, Paraguay

  Fernando G. Ovando Rivarola

Michael J. Pisani is Professor of International Business at Central Michigan University (CMU), USA. Dr. Pisani has taught collegiately for 28 years at ten institutions and has been a full-time member of the CMU faculty since 2002. During 2019, Dr. Pisani is a US Fulbright Scholar in Paraguay. Dr. Pisani has (co-)authored more than 100 journal articles, reports, and book chapters. He is also the author or co-author of three books on South Texas, two of which are focused on the informal and underground economy of the Texas-Mexico (or South Texas) borderlands, including Consumption, Informal Markets, and the Underground Economy: Hispanic Consumption in South Texas (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). 

Fernando G. Ovando Rivarola is a researcher and active member of the research group in the Centro de Análisis y Difusión de la Economía Paraguaya (CADEP), Paraguay. He is an economist from the Universidad Nacional de Asunción (UNA) and earned a master’s degree in Economics at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP)—Argentina. Mr. Ovando has written articles and working papers on the labor market and unemployment in Paraguay. His research interests include the labor market, income distribution, impact evaluation of public policies, fiscal policy, and public finances.

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