Between Border and Bazaar

Central Asia's Informal Economy

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3986106
AutoresHasan H Karrar (0000-0002-0682-3345, Lahore University of Management Sciences, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen49
Número2
Páginas272-293
Fecha de publicación2019-03-15
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472336.2018.1532017
OpenAlexW2898450265
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas14
Referencias citadas38

The disintegration of the Soviet Union spurred a transnational trade in consumer goods. Bazaars, which proliferated across the former Soviet Union, including in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan that is the focus of this article, became nodes in this informal trade. This article makes three arguments: (i) Soviet successor states capitalised on the new informal economy which provided employment to millions when economies were in decline. Conversely, ongoing developments, particularly in Kazakhstan, seek to modernise the bazaars that emerged after the Soviet Union. (ii) The movement of people and goods – between border and bazaar, and in case of re-exports, on to another border – are illustrative of a multi-dimensional informal economy evidenced in rent extraction, regulation of bazaars, and in trader networks. (iii) The bazaar-centred economy relies on checkpoint politics that establish border regimes, enabling mobility

Bazaar · Central asia · Economics · Economy · Geography · Informal sector · International trade · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Soviet union · Successor cardinal · China's Global Influence and Migration · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Taxation and Compliance Studies