In a dualistic labor market, self-employment is classified as the informal sector because its members are usually unable to find formal jobs. In big cities throughout the world it has been reported that the urban self-employed are often faced with highly restrictive government regulations in the belief that they do not contribute very much to the output. This thesis studies the factors that can explain the successes of these self-employed such as the extent of their capital, entrepreneurial experience, and education. The discriminant analysis is used throughout the study.

A set of forecast survey data is analyzed in this paper for properties consistent with the Rational Expectations Hypothesis. Standard statistical tests for "rational expectations" are employed utilizing consensus forecasts generated by an interest rate newsletter. Four selected variables (Fed Funds rate, M1 rate of growth, rate of change in CPI, and real GNP growth rate) are analyzed over multiple time horizons. Results tend to reject "rational expectations" for most variables and time horizons. Forecasts are more likely to meet "rationality" criteria the shorter the forecast horizon, with the notable exception of forecasts of real GNP growth.

This thesis attempts to measure the growth of the Bolivian informal sector. The study estimates the growth of the informal sector by defining it as the difference between the formal sector's reported real gross national product (GNP) and forecasted values of real GNP. The first chapter describes the Bolivian economy, defines its informal sector, and presents reasons for this sector's growth. Related research in informal activity, theoretical discussions, and perspectives are presented in the second chapter. Chapter III describes methodological research used in the analysis of the data. Chapter IV describes the results of the investigation. Conclusions and recommendations for the informal sector are provided in chapter V. The results show that it is possible to measure informal activity in a macro setting

The question for this thesis is whether the four major stock markets--the United States, Great Britain, West Germany, and Japan are interdependent or segmented. The study period runs from February 1979 to June 1987, with the Wall Street Journal as a source of data. The Granger causality test is used to test for relationships among the four major stock markets. The thesis is divided into five chapters-- 1) statement of the problem; 2) survey of literature; 3) methodology; 4) results and 5) conclusions. The overall findings of this thesis indicate that there are few or no comovement similarities among all the four stock markets. However, the findings do point out the significant influence of the United States stock market on the other three stock markets.