I Buy Medicines From the Streets Because I Am Poor: A Qualitative Account on why the Informal Market for Medicines Thrive in Ivory Coast

The informal market for medicines has been growing. In Ivory Coast, this informal market is an unofficial core part of the health system. Given the risks associated with the informal market for medicines, it is important to understand why this market continues to grow. It becomes even more important in the context of COVID-19, as a huge chunk of falsified medical products end up at the informal market. A qualitative case study design was chosen for this study, with in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) being the methods for data collection. 20 IDIs and 3 FGDs were conducted. Participants in this study are sellers, buyers, and pharmaceutical experts. We found out that the informal market for medicines thrives because it is highly accessible, convenient, affordable, and that it is used for various social, cultural, and religious reasons. The study concludes that although this informal market presents a clear danger to public health, it is thriving. For authorities to address this public health challenge, there is need for a holistic and multi-pronged approach, which includes addressing health systems factors and strengthening regulatory framework.publishedVersio

Designing the Last Mile of the Supply Chain in Africa: Firm Expansion and Managerial Inferences from a Grocer Model of Location Decisions

The recent interest in the expansion of retail food chains and the perceived problems resulting from competition between these new, sophisticated supply chains and the most basic of food distribution networks in emerging economies have been greatly debated in the literature. This paper is a seminal approach to examining South-South food firm (grocer) foreign direct investment by incorporating data on the informal market into a facility location decision model. There are unique environmental complexities that developing/transitioning economies present. The unique finding of this model is that informal employment patterns, in both Agricultural and non-Agricultural sectors, influence the firm’s location. Given the absence of data, South-South foreign direct investment managers perceive avid market transactions as indicators of demand and potential supply availability in formal and informal sectors. For example, Pick n’ Pay’s CEO stated recently that their growth in the Southern Africa supermarket business is a direct result of the informal market converting to the formal market.Supply Chain, Africa, Informal Markets, Facility Location Model, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, Q10,

A SEM Analysis of Work Preferences, Motivations and Earnings in Informal Market

The study aims at investigating the effects of earnings and improvement in human capital on the work satisfaction considering the mediating role of motivational factors for a unique sample of female workers involved in informal market in Punjab, Pakistan. The survival analysis based upon structural equation modeling has been used to draw empirical evidences. Consistent with the backward-bending labor supply curve, higher earnings appears to be a negative determinant of work satisfaction for female employed in informal sector. An important insight of such results is the cost (labor-leisure tradeoff) and work conditions, which are avoided with higher earnings of female workers in informal market.  Besides, results drawn from structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that female workers in informal market are penalized by health hazards (injuries), domestic responsibilities (opportunity cost) and restrictions to spend their earnings (lack of independence), which further adds miseries to their lives. Motivational factors such as rewards, education, advance payments and awareness (information regarding labor laws) can have positive associations with their earnings.  Conversely, as female workers draw themselves out of informal market, they acquires more education, which is the very reason that education has a negative relationship with work satisfaction of female workers derived from the informal market. All of the factors mentioned above call for the attention of policy makers to make substantial investment towards the development of human capital particularly in the informal sector

Private Brands: capturing consumption from informal market

CEMSThe purpose of the project is to develop a general strategy for retailers on how to attract consumers from informal market to organized retailers in Europe, Africa and Russia with the help of private labels. In order to achieve the stated goal we conducted a multi-step research. The first step was devoted to the secondary data analysis, where we had to: identify the key buying factors for the informal market and the commonalities in motivational drivers and perform a benchmarking analysis of private brands. The second part was focused on obtaining primary data through conducting a thorough interview analysis. The last part of the report is focused on the creation of generic recommendations for organized retailers, which included: private brand positioning; tiering; assortment; quality positioning; pricing strategy; promotional strategy; placement on the store

The Impact of Alternative Livestock Market Choice, Constraints and Opportunities: A Case of Smallholder Farmers in the Southern Communal Area of Namibia

This paper used Regression Adjustment (RA), Inverse-Probability Weighted (IPW) and the Inverse-Probability Weighted (IPW) Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) estimators to estimate the treatment effects of marketing livestock at the informal market relative to other alternative market choices on the farmers’ gross margin. Estimation is based on survey data obtained by interviewing livestock farmers in the Southern Communal Area of Namibia. Four treatment levels representing market channels are the informal market, the permit sale, auction market, and abattoir. The estimated Average Treatment Effects (ATE) of patronizing permit instead of the informal market is N$142,701.8. Moving from the informal market to the auction, the estimated ATE is N$224,547; also for a movement from the Informal market to the abattoir ATE is N$605,810.8. Results show that among the farmers who marketed at the alternative markets, there is an increase in their gross margin sales from the average of N$142,012.1 to N$145,343.4 for permit sales, N$236,677.8 for auction sales and N$578,671.3 for the abattoir sales. Quantile estimates of the potential outcome distribution were also calculated to determine whether the treatment affects those farmers at the lower end of the distribution differently from those at the middle or upper end. The result of the quantile estimate was found to be consistent with that of the conditional mean. Overall, the study found that upstream markets are more gross profit enhancing than the downstream markets ceteris paribus. Keywords: treatment effects, average treatment effects, potential outcome framework, potential outcome mean, upstream market, quantile effects

Contribution of the informal market of village chickens to sustainable livelihoods in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The study aimed to determine the contribution of the informal market of village chickens to sustainable livelihoods. The study was conducted in two purposively selected cities namely Durban and Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Central Business District (CBD). A questionnaire was administered to village chicken vendors in the CBD. A total of 50 village chicken vendors which were limited in the CBD, were found and interviewed. In both Durban (100%) and Pietermaritzburg (77%), the majority of village chicken vendors were women (P0.05) to generate income (100%). None (0 %) of the village chicken vendors were exposed to chicken farming training on village chickens in Durban and 11% in Pietermaritzburg have been exposed to training (P<0.05). Over 85% were interested in attending chicken farming training in both areas. There was a significant difference (P<0.05) between the main source of income and the uses of chickens. The use of village chickens influenced the main source of income, which was not limited to income generation or leisure. It was concluded that the informal market for village chickens contributes to sustaining livelihoods through income, consumption and culturally driven. It is recommended that access to training and resources can grow the informal market.

Is It Formal or Informal? Choice of Market Outlets for Unprocessed Tea in Nandi County, Kenya

The tea industry plays a key role in the agriculture sector and the economy at large with tea output contributing about 11% of the agriculture sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product. Like many other crops in Kenya, tea is produced both on small and large-scale basis. Smallholder farmers in Kenya make a significant contribution to the industry producing 61% of the total national production and with 66% of tea acreage. Formal market outlets are more profitable than informal ones. However, small tea agri enterprises in Nandi County prefer selling their unprocessed tea to informal market outlets. Empirical evidence on what motivates these agri-enterprises to sell most of their tea to these outlets is scanty. The main objective of this study was to compare the profitability of formal and informal market outlets for unprocessed tea in Nandi County. Multistage sampling procedure was employed and 384 respondents interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using gross margin analysis. Formal market outlets are more beneficial because of higher gross margin rate of 12.71% compared to informal market outlets having the gross margin rate of 1.08%.The findings are helpful in guiding smallholder tea farmers in information on the most profitable and efficient market outlets and informing policy makers on how to improve the efficiency of market outlets. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-22-10 Publication date: November 30th 202

Informal Market in Urban Setting in India: A Sociological Review

The formal and the informal market are two significant parts of the economy in India. However, the portion of the informal sector is more when contrasted with the formal one. The informal share of market, which eventually bolsters the conventional economy, is expanding step by step. These informal Markets give a special topic of sociological examination with regards to the informal economy. This paper intends to sociologically contextualize street vendors and weekly markets in the triangle shaped by the urban space, informal economy and state, and see how informal ness is conjured in formal metropolitan circle. This examination through different past investigations attempted to comprehend vendors profile of these market and their conduct with shoppers and among themselves. This paper investigates the profile of consumer and their conduct in urban weekly market. The conduct that the consumers show in looking for, buying, utilizing, assessing and discarding items and services that they expect will fulfil their necessities. Consumer behaviour is impacted by different components like individual, ecological and dynamic. This examination utilizes distinctive other recently distributed attempts to comprehend the idea of weekly market. Further this article also brings into light various problems faced by these informal markets and also talks about policies and legislation brought by government for their betterment

MENSURAÇÃO E ANÃLISE DE CUSTOS DE TRANSAÇÃO ARCADOS POR PRODUTORES DE LEITE NOS MERCADOS FORMAL E INFORMAL DA REGIÃO DE SÃO CARLOS, SP

The analysis and measurement of production and transaction costs is an important tool in guiding decisions and in comprehending the behavior of the agents in a particular institutional environment. Although production costs have been widely studied in the literature, transaction costs have not been so extensively analyzed, especially empirically. Based on 125 questionnaires and on theoretical review, this work presents an analysis and a measurement of the transaction costs for two groups of rural producers in the region of São Carlos, in São Paulo state. The groups were defined using cluster analysis, considering the amount of milk sold in the informal market as the analysis variable. The theoretical reference includes the New Institutional Economics and Transaction Cost Economics theories. It was concluded that, although transaction costs are low for both groups, they are relatively higher for producers inserted mainly in the informal market than for producers inserted in the formal market. Moreover, a small number of formal contracts were observed, which can be explained by the high frequency of transactions and the consequent establishment of reliability.Transaction cost, milk agri-chain, informal market, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Industrial Organization,

Financial Intermediation and Growth: Long Run Consequences of Capital Market Imperfections

The model describes an economy in which banks develop in order to meet the entrepreneurs' demand of capital. Domestic savers can lend in the informal credit market where they have to bear some risk; they can also save in a safe bank account. Banks cannot perfectly check the choices of borrowers, hence they ask for a collateral. Therefore, small firms borrow in the informal market where costly information can be obtained. The long run steady state is determined by the initial distribution of wealth and aggregate wealth. The economy may eventually stop growing, and the banking system will fail to develop. Alternatively, banks may progressively dominate the financial system and the economy will reach a stable positive rate of growth.