Election-Driven Legalization of Informality

This study investigates the fluctuations in the housing legalization process in conjunction with national and local elections in Albania. Informal construction has been rife in Albania since the fall of communism in 1990. The study timeline extends from 2008 to 2021. Government revenues from legalization fees are used as a proxy for the pace of the legalization process. The key finding is that the legalization of informal buildings intensifies prior to an election and drops afterwards, suggesting that the process is politically driven. This phenomenon is termed Election-Driven Legalization of Informality (EDLI) and is part and parcel of the Albanian shadow economy. In combination with another phenomenon known as Election-Driven Informality (EDI), EDLI produces a vicious circle. First, informal construction is enabled or tolerated before an election in order to curry favor with voters; that is EDI at work. Then, EDLI comes into play: before the next election, the informal buildings are legalized in a rush, again for the purpose of garnering voter support. These practices, which are perpetrated by both sides of the political spectrum, are both unethical and unsustainable