The Urban Informal Sector (UIS) is a major and expanding part of developing economies both in terms of employment and output. However, they cause substantial environmental damages and worsen living conditions, prompting authorities to impose rigid environmental regulations. Yet, these steps have been mostly arbitrary and based on adhoc popular sentiment or political exigencies and not on rigoro...

We report the application of rotor-assisted population transfer (RAPT) to measure the quadrupolar coupling constant (C(q)) for spin 5/2 nuclei. Results from numerical simulations are presented on the magnitude of enhancement factor as a function of frequency offsets, i.e. the RAPT profile. Experimental O17 RAPT profile is traced for the amino acid L-leucine. In addition, results from MQ-MAS exp...

In this study, the oxazine 170 perchlorate (O17)-ethylcellulose (EC) membrane was successfully exploited for the fabrication of creatine- and creatinine-sensing membranes. The sensing membrane exhibited a double layer of O17-EC membrane and a layer of enzyme(s) entrapped in the EC and polyurethane hydrogel (PU) matrix. The sensing principle of the membranes was based on the hydrolytic catalysis...

The Kodila-Tedika & Bolito-Losembe (2014, ADR) finding on no evidence of causality flowing from State fragility to classical corruption or extreme corruption could have an important influence on academic and policy debates. Using updated data (1996-2010) from 53 African countries, we provide evidence of a positive (negative) nexus between political stability/no violence and corruption-control (...

This paper addresses the issue of causality in the relationship between various types of institutions—namely, political and economic freedom—and long-run economic growth. It is shown that existing empirical studies of these relationships provide evidence of correlation, but not causation. Granger causality tests of freedom vs. growth, and freedom vs. investment are conducted using aggregate mea...

Our survey of private manufacturing firms finds the size of hidden “unofficial” activity to be much larger in Russia and Ukraine than in Poland, Slovakia and Romania. A comparison of cross-country averages shows that managers in Russia and Ukraine face higher effective tax rates, worse bureaucratic corruption, greater incidence of mafia protection, and have less faith in the court system. Our f...

The principal driving force in the development of the financial system of pre-industrial Europe was not lending per se, but payments. Trade among strangers required the development of methods of payment that did not require mutual acquaintance and trust. The two principal financial innovations of pre-industrial Europe—the deposit bank and the bill of exchange—evolved to address this need. Lendi...

Th e multiplicity of policies proposed to support the informal sector refl ects the lack of a common defi nition. Although they may produce positive eff ects, these are limited and fail to constitute a comprehensive strategic approach. Th e diff erent interpretations in the absence of a common defi nition as well as the strategies emerging from them are reviewed. Th e identifi cation of informa...

This paper discusses the literature on the enforcement of incomplete contracts. It compares legal enforcement to enforcement via relationships and reputations. A number of mechanisms, such as the repeat purchase mechanism (Klein and Le er (1981)) and e ciency wages (Shapiro and Stiglitz (1984)), have been o ered as solutions to the problem of enforcing an incomplete contract. It is shown that t...

We study the effects on accountability in government service delivery of decentralizing administration of an antipoverty program. While governments at both central and local levels are vulnerable to antipoor policy biases owing to political capture, centralized delivery systems are additionally prone to bureaucratic corruption, owing to problems in monitoring bureaucratic performance. Decentral...