Track: Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Abstract
Informal economy is a phenomenon present in all Latin American countries. It causes lower level of productivity and social problems given the fact that informal workers do not have social benefits neither the possibility of having a retirement fund if they keep in the informal market. Reducing the size of the informal sector of the economy is a step that must be taken in order to improve the economic and social situation. One important factor of a policy to reduce the size of informal economy is the access to credit to entrepreneurs. This paper summarizes briefly the situation of informal economy in Bogotá, Colombia and proposes microfinancing as a realistic and inclusive way to include informal enterprises into the formal sector of the economy.