Impacts of formal registration of businesses in Malawi

Informal employment is pervasive in low-income African countries, including Malawi, where 93 per cent of firms have not registered with the government. Authors evaluated the impact of three interventions aimed at formalising small businesses: (1) one offering unregistered firms assistance with free business registration; (2) one offering a combination of help with free business registration and with separate tax registration; and (3) one adding information sessions at a bank that ended with an offer of opening a business bank account.