INFORMALITY AND PUBLIC POLICIES TO OvERCOME IT. THE CASE OF BRAZIL

Abstract

The article states that most of the policy recommendations made by international agencies adopt a sometimes naïve perspective about the nature of informality. It proposes an innovative approach that defines informality as a social form of work that is shaped when workers get on the move to obtain means of existence in environments where almost everything is informal (housing, urban infrastructure services, personal relationships etc.). After reviewing the main policies to combat informality adopted by Brazil in recent years, it argues that a significant portion of the "informal" will never formalize because it is rooted in the very urban experience of a significant proportion of the population, of which informality is a structuring element.

Da Informalidade à Economia Popular: distinguindo realidades e conectando abordagens

“…The multiple current analytical perspectives on informality reveal the controversies within this field of study and the lack of unity among its concepts and usual frameworks, a fact supported by recent reviews of this academic literature (e.g., Chen, 2012;Hillenkamp et al, 2013;Schoofs, 2015;Cardoso, 2016;Bromley and Wilson, 2018) 3 .…”

“…Those studies argued that, especially in underdeveloped countries,informality was a structural phenomenon, becoming a hindrance to the development of labor markets and the economy, keeping workers in those countries underemployed and in poverty" (Santos e Melo, 2011, p. 31). Lautier (2005) points out that the perspective committed to formalizing informal businesses had no convincing effects, as can be clearly seen in Latin America and Brazil (Cardoso, 2016). The programs designed with this intent, in addition to being expensive, selective and restricted in their scope of action, attributed to self-employed workers and to small businesses an entrepreneurial predisposition and an accumulation-oriented behavior that, being neither endogenous nor consistent with their experiences, were neither assimilated nor practiced.…”

El Dilema De La Informalidad Y Como Combatirla

“…Este es un ejemplo de exenciones fiscales dirigido de manera directa a emprendedores formales. En latinoamérica tenemos el caso de Brasil (Cardoso, 2016), donde se creo el Programa Nacional Simple, que se enfoca de igual forma que Italia a la reducción de impuestos y la simplificación de procedimientos burocráticos para micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas. Es así que la economía informal se presenta como un problema que ha demostrado que es permanente, tanto en paises en desarrollo como en economías avanzadas.…”

“…La sección anterior muestra la necesidad de una política pública que incentive la formalización de los agentes 4 El economista Italiano Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) desarrolló el concepto de óptimo, y este detalla la situación en la que no es posible beneficiar a un agente sin perjudicar a otro. En su búsqueda de llegar a un equilibrio y alcanzar un bienestar, nuestros agentes aceptan ceder hasta el punto en el que deja de generar beneficios.…”

Ethnographic notes about entrepreneurship in favelas in Rio de Janeiro

“…Na virada da década, nos anos 2010, gestores públicos ligados à Secretaria de Assuntos Estratégicos da Presidência da República não se furtaram a afirmar que as melhorias nas condições de vida da população brasileira haveriam promovido uma transformação na estrutura de classes sociais (Neri 2010). A sociologia do mercado de trabalho, por seu lado, vem procurando criticar essa perspectiva oficial, por meio de estudos das novas configurações do trabalho formal (Guimarães 2011), da estrutura ocupacional brasileira (Cardoso 2016a) e do papel de políticas públicas de combate à informalidade (Cardoso 2016b). Este artigo pretende somar a essa reflexão, problematizando a produção de dados de sucesso sobre a formalização do trabalho e o empreendedorismo.…”