The Informal Economy Revisited

Abstract

This landmark volume brings together leading scholars in the field to investigate recent conceptual shifts, research findings and policy debates on the informal economy as well as future challenges and directions for research and policy. Well over half of the global workforce and the vast majority of the workforce in developing countries work in the informal economy, and in countries around the world new forms of informal employment are emerging. Yet the informal workforce is not well understood, remains undervalued and is widely stigmatised.Contributors to the volume bridge a range of disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, development economics, law, political science, social policy, sociology, statistics, urban planning and design. The Informal Economy Revisited also focuses on specific groups of informal workers, including home-based workers, street vendors and waste pickers, to provide a grounded insight into disciplinary debates. Ultimately, the book calls for a paradigm shift in how the informal economy is perceived to reflect the realities of informal work in the Global South, as well as the informal practices of the state and capital, not just labour.The Informal Economy Revisited is the culmination of 20 years of pioneering work by WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), a global network of researchers, development practitioners and organisations of informal workers in 90 countries. Researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and advocates will all find this book an invaluable guide to the significance and complexities of the informal economy, and its role in today's globalised economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the livelihood of a vulnerable population: Evidence from women street vendors in urban Vietnam

“…The divergent schools of thought on informality and formality affect—and are manifested in—policies on urban informality, which includes street vending ( Recio et al, 2017 ). According to modernist theory, urban planners believe that cities should be planned to be orderly and clean at all costs ( Bell & Loukaitou-Sideris, 2014 ; Skinner, 2009 ; Skinner & Watson, 2020 ). Thus, street vending is considered a threat to cities' aesthetics and the residue of a pre-modern economy that is destined to disappear with modernity ( Boonjubun, 2017 ; Chen, 2012 ; Cross, 2000 ; Portes & Sassen-Koob, 1987 ; Williams & Gurtoo, 2012 ).…”

“…Unlike previous financial crises that directly affected the formal sector followed by indirectly affecting the informal sector ( Cohen, 2010 ; Horn, 2010 ; Rani, 2020 ), the COVID-19 pandemic has directly affected informal sector workers such as street vendors ( Rakshit & Basistha, 2020 ). To curb the pandemic, many countries have adopted social distancing or lockdown measures, which socioeconomically disrupt all economic sectors, including the informal sector ( Chen, 2020 ; Laing, 2020 ; Rakshit & Basistha, 2020 ).…”

Theories and definitions of the informal economy: A survey

“…Chen and Carré (2020, p.5) point out that while the concept of informality has been criticized by many scholars “ as being too fuzzy and the formal‐informal dichotomy as being too binary ,” it is unfeasible to renounce defining it. Indeed, it is unquestionable that workers and enterprises fall on a continuum between being fully formal or fully informal, therefore the formal‐informal division is “ easy to criticize .” But, as Harriss‐White (2020) argues, a clear description of what should be and what should not be included within the IE remains pivotal for positive, normative, and measurement purposes.…”

Migration and development, without care? Locating transnational care practices in the migration‐development debate

“…However, even here there is only a very intermittent focus on migration (see e.g., Benería et al, 2012; Editorial, 1998; Pearson & Sweetman, 2019). Instead, this critical literature concentrates on the structural causes of women's economic insecurity and poverty, specifically the conditions of women's informal employment (Bhatt, 2006; Chen & Carré, 2022; Jhabvala et al, 2003), the gender division of labour and time use (Antonopoulos & Indira, 2016; Floro, 1995), gender labour market segmentation (Elson, 1999), female‐headed households (Buvinić & Gupta, 1997) and rural women's land rights (Agarwal, 2001). It wasn't until scholars turned their full attention to the care economy and the complex dynamics of social reproduction as they are impacted by development that the issue of migration began to be more systematically addressed (Razavi, 2007).…”