This paper evaluates critically the relationship between starting-up unregistered and firm performance. The widespread belief across all the dominant theories of informal entrepreneurship is that unregistered start-ups experience poorer future firm performance than those registered from the outset of their operations. To evaluate this poorer performance thesis, this paper reports World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data on 377 enterprises in Albania collected in 2019. After controlling for other determinants of firm performance, the finding is that formal enterprises that started-up unregistered have significantly higher annual sales growth than enterprises that registered from the outset. To explain this, the argument is that in weak institutional environments, such as Albania, the advantages of operating unregistered at the outset outweigh the benefits of registration. The result is a call to re-theorize firm performance in the informal sector and for policy to shift toward a more facilitating approach that enhances benefits of registration.

中文翻译：

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评估未注册初创企业对未来公司业绩的影响：证据 2019 年阿尔巴尼亚调查

本文批判性地评估了未注册初创企业与企业绩效之间的关系。非正式创业的所有主流理论普遍认为，未注册的初创企业未来的公司业绩比从运营开始时注册的企业要差。为了评估这一绩效较差的论文，本文报告了世界银行企业调查 (WBES) 对 2019 年收集的阿尔巴尼亚 377 家企业的数据。在控制了公司绩效的其他决定因素后，发现未注册的正规企业的绩效显着高于年销售额的增长超过了从一开始就注册的企业。为了解释这一点，论据是在薄弱的制度环境中，例如阿尔巴尼亚，一开始未注册经营的好处大于注册的好处。其结果是呼吁重新理论化非正规部门的公司绩效，并要求政策转向一种更加便利的方法，以提高注册的好处。