Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Avenyo, Elvis
Author-Email: avenyo@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT
Title: Informal sector innovation in Ghana: Data set and descriptive analysis.
Abstract: While informal enterprises and their activities dominate sub-Saharan
	 African (SSA) economies, data on 'informal' innovation activities
	 remain lacking. This paper presents descriptive statistics from survey
	 data collected in 2016, on the types of innovations informal enterprises
	 adopt and/or adapt in urban Ghana (Accra and Tema). Using zones
	 defined in the Ghana Informal Enterprise Survey (GIFS) of the World Bank
	 as area-based frame, and randomly selecting and canvassing 17 zones,
	 the study identified and interviewed 513 informal enterprises. The analysis
	 reveals that informal enterprises do innovate. Innovations, as found in
	 formal enterprises as well, are not big swings, that is, not radical but
	 incremental, and are found to occur over several years. These suggest that
	 incremental innovations, notwithstanding, are important to the survival of
	 sampled informal enterprises.
Classification-JEL: C83, D22, H32, L11, O17, O31
Keywords: Innovation, Informal Sector, Survey, Ghana, sub-Saharan Africa
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20180808
Number: 2018-030
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2018/wp2018-030.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2018030