Sri Lanka - Formalization Experiment Data 2008-2011

The majority of firms in most developing countries are informal. In Sri Lanka only one-fifth of firms operating without paid workers are registered with any government agency. Even among firms employing paid workers, the majority are unregistered with one or more pertinent agencies. Researchers from the World Bank, Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya and United Kingdom's University of Warwick designed a field experiment to measure the latent demand for formalization, and the consequences that formalizing has on informal firms. The experiment provided informal firms incentives to formalize. A sample of informal firms with one to 14 paid employees in two largest Sri Lanka cities were divided into four treatment groups and a control group. The first treatment group was given information about the costs and benefits of, and procedures for, registering their firm for tax purposes, and offered reimbursement for the cost of registering, about 1000 Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR). The second, third, and fourth treatment groups were provided the same information and also offered a payment of 10,000 LKR, 20,000 LKR and 40,000 LKR (approximately US$88, $175 and $350 respectively) to register. Baseline survey was conducted in December 2008 with the sample of 520 businesses. Three follow-up surveys of these same firms were carried out in August 2010, March 2011 and December 2011 to examine whether and how the firms benefited from formalization.

绝大多数发展中国家的企业均为非正规企业。以斯里兰卡为例，未雇佣带薪员工的企业中仅有五分之一在任何政府机构完成了注册登记。即便在雇佣带薪员工的企业中，多数仍未在一个或多个相关主管部门完成注册。世界银行、斯里兰卡佩拉德尼亚大学（University of Peradeniya）以及英国华威大学（University of Warwick）的研究者设计了一项田野实验，旨在测算非正规企业正规化的潜在需求，以及正规化对非正规企业产生的影响。该实验为非正规企业提供了正规化的激励措施。研究样本取自斯里兰卡两座最大城市中雇佣1至14名带薪员工的非正规企业，被分为四个处理组与一个控制组。第一处理组获得了企业税务注册的成本、收益与流程相关信息，并可获得约1000斯里兰卡卢比（LKR）的注册费用报销。第二、第三、第四处理组除获得相同信息外，还可分别获得10000、20000、40000斯里兰卡卢比（约合88、175、350美元）的注册补贴。研究团队于2008年12月对520家企业开展了基线调查，并分别于2010年8月、2011年3月及2011年12月对同批企业进行了三次追踪调查，以考察企业是否从正规化中获益及具体获益路径。