Social Protection, Job Quality,and Growth William F. Maloney, Guillermo Beylis, Nathalie Gonzalez-Prieto,and Andres Zambrano Rationalizing Informality AI Disclosure Statement:Microsoft Copilot was occasionally used in theJanuary to May 2026 time frame to refine some text; Anthropic Claudewas occasionally used in the February to May 2026 time frame to helpresearch methodological questions. All text subsequently underwentmultiple rounds of human review and revision. https://reproducibility.worldbank.org A reproducibility package is available forthis book in the Reproducible Research Repository athttps://reproducibility.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/ study/FR_LAC_2026_621. Scan to see all titles in this series. Rationalizing InformalitySocial Protection, Job Quality,and Growth William F. Maloney, Guillermo Beylis, Nathalie Gonzalez-Prieto,and Andres Zambrano © 2026 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet:www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved 1 2 3 4 29 28 27 26 This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations,and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board ofExecutive Directors, or the governments they represent.The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or currency of the data included in this work and does not assume responsibility for any errors, omissions, or discrepancies in the information, or liabilitywith respect to the use of or failure to use the information, methods, processes, or conclusions set forth. Theboundaries, colors, denominations, links/footnotes, and other information shown in this work do not implyany judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsementor acceptance of such boundaries. The citation of works authored by others does not mean The World Bankendorses the views expressed by those authors or the content of their works. Certain artificial intelligence (“AI”)tools may have been used in creating this work, as indicated in the work, but all transformative and creativeeffort expressed in the work was performed by the World Bank staff or external contributors. The World Bankis not responsible for any claims, including for errors or inaccurate information, generated by AI programs notcontrolled or owned by the World Bank.Nothing herein shall constitute or be construed or considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. Rights and Permissions This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo. Under the Creative Commons Attribution license, you are free to copy,distribute, transmit, and adapt this work, including for commercial purposes, under the following conditions: Attribution—Please cite the work as follows: Maloney, William F., Guillermo Beylis, Nathalie Gonzalez-Prieto,and Andres Zambrano. 2026.Rationalizing Informality: Social Protection, Job Quality, and Growth.WorldBank Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-23220-0.License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO Translations—If you create a translation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with theattribution:This translation was not created by The World Bank and should not be considered an officialWorld Bank translation. The World Bank shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation. Adaptations—If you create an adaptation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution:This is an adaptation of an original work by The World Bank. Views and opinions expressed in the adaptation arethe sole responsibility of the author or authors of the adaptation and are not endorsed by The World Bank. Third-party content—The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content containedwithin the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of any third-party-owned individualcomponent or part contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of those third parties. The risk of claimsresulting from such infringement rests solely with you. If you wish to re-use a component of the work, it is yourresponsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that re-use and to obtain permission from thecopyright owner. Examples of components can include, but are not limited to, tables, figures, or images. All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank, 1818 HStreet NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; e-mail:pubrights@worldbank.org. ISBN (paper): 978-1-4648-2322-0ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-2347-3DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-2322-0 Artificial Intelligence:If AI tools were