Estimating Informal Investment in Canada

March 2005

Prepared for the Small Business Branch of Industry Canada by Dr. Allan Riding, Equinox Management Consultants Ltd.

This study has examined the extent to which data collected in the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises has contributed to the goal of measuring actual and potential informal investment in Canada. The data collected from the Survey were used to estimate the flow and potential stock of capital available for informal investment from respondents to the survey. The work has also reported on ways in which these data have improved, and can potentially yet further improve, our understanding of the flow and stock of financing beyond the estimates available in the literature.