@article{fdi:010067720,
  title = {{I}nformal versus formal : a panel data analysis of earnings gaps in {M}adagascar},
  author = {{N}ordman, {C}hristophe and {R}akotomanana, {F}. and {R}oubaud, {F}ran{\c{c}}ois},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{L}ittle is known about the informal sector's income structure vis-a-vis the formal sector, despite its predominant economic weight in developing countries. {W}hile most of the papers on this topic are drawn from (emerging) {L}atin {A}merican, {A}sian or some {A}frican countries, {M}adagascar represents an interesting case. {S}o far, very few studies in general, even less so in {S}ub-{S}aharan {A}frica, used panel data to provide evidence of the informal sector heterogeneity. {T}aking advantage of the 1-2-3 {S}urveys in {M}adagascar, a four-wave panel dataset (2000-04), we assess the magnitude of various formal/informal sector earnings gaps. {I}s there an informal sector job earnings penalty? {D}o some informal sector jobs provide pecuniary premiums and which ones? {D}o possible gaps vary along the earnings distribution? {I}gnoring distributional issues is indeed a strong limitation, given the compound question of how informality affects earnings inequality. {W}e address heterogeneity issues at three different levels: the worker, the employment status (wage employment vs. self-employment) and the earnings distribution. {S}tandard earnings equations are estimated at the mean and at various conditional quantiles of the earnings distribution. {T}he results suggest that the sign and magnitude of the formal informal sector earnings gaps highly depend on the workers' employment status and on their relative position in the earnings distribution. {I}n the case of a poor and fragile country like {M}adagascar, these findings provide new and robust empirical backups for the existence of a mix between the traditional exclusion vs. exit hypotheses of the informal sector.},
  keywords = {informal sector ; earnings gap ; transition matrix ; panel data ; {M}adagascar ; {MADAGASCAR}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{W}orld {D}evelopment},
  volume = {86},
  numero = {},
  pages = {1--17},
  ISSN = {0305-750{X}},
  year = {2016},
  DOI = {10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.05.006},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010067720},
}