abstract: 'This article examines how the informal sector, as a group of potential

  `free riders'' for public welfare goods, relates to individual social

  policy preferences in low-and middle-income countries. The exclusion

  hypothesis proposes that a large informal sector lowers the preferences

  from formal workers and the middle-and high-income groups for social

  services to be provided by the state, and raises these groups''

  preferences for public welfare goods to become club goods. In contrast,

  the prospect hypothesis argues that formal workers, particularly the

  middle-income group, ally themselves to the informal sector to insure

  against the risk of future employment in informality. The study examines

  individual preferences for the provision of pensions and health care by

  either the state or private enterprises. The two competing hypotheses

  are tested with a hierarchical model using survey data from Latin

  America for 1995, 1998 and 2008. The findings offer support for the

  exclusion hypothesis.'
affiliation: 'Berens, S (Corresponding Author), Univ Cologne, Cologne, Germany.

  Berens, Sarah, Univ Cologne, Cologne, Germany.'
author: Berens, Sarah
author-email: sarah.berens@uni-koeln.de
author_list:
- family: Berens
  given: Sarah
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1093/ser/mwu039
eissn: 1475-147X
files: []
issn: 1475-1461
journal: SOCIO-ECONOMIC REVIEW
keywords: 'Social policy; informal sector; preferences; income; Latin America;

  rational choice'
keywords-plus: 'INCOME INEQUALITY; LATIN-AMERICA; SOCIAL INSURANCE; LABOR-MARKETS;

  POLITICS; POLICY; INSTITUTIONS; DEMOCRACIES; COUNTRIES; REFORM'
language: English
month: OCT
number: '4'
number-of-cited-references: '57'
pages: 651-678
papis_id: f3a754fb07c61cd8787dba7dd3253e6b
ref: Berens2015exclusioncalculating
times-cited: '18'
title: Between exclusion and calculating solidarity? Preferences for private versus
  public welfare provision and the size of the informal sector
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000369533700002
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '34'
volume: '13'
web-of-science-categories: Economics; Political Science; Sociology
year: '2015'