Topics Sustainable enterprises

Wage protection systems and programmes in the GCC

This paper is an assessment of the limitations of the electronic Wage Protection System (WPS) introduced in four of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. The widespread practice of withholding wages has led to the GCC states introducing a…

Digitizing wage payments in Bangladesh’s garment production sector

The journey from cash to electronic payments in Bangladesh’s garment sector is gathering pace as garment production factories discover how digitizing wages can save time, reduce costs, increase transparency and empower workers by improving their access to finance. In short,…

Reducing the shadow economy through electronic payments

This report analyses the shadow economy in eight Central and Southern European countries. It estimates the potential impact of various regulations that, by replacing cash with electronic payments, or by increasing the share of registered consumer cash transactions, may lead…

Credit apartheid, migrants, mines and money

Various agents – rural patriarchs, traders, government authorities, appliance retailers – have used techniques to keep wages beyond migrants’ control. Paradoxically, similar techniques have, on occasion, been eagerly embraced by migrants themselves, who know that these resources will need to…

The ethics of payments: Paper, plastic, or bitcoin?

Individuals and businesses make numerous payments every day. They sometimes have choices about what forms of payment to make or accept, and at other times are effectively forced to use a particular form. Often there is an asymmetric power relationship…