The Informal Economy

Studies in Advanced and Less Developed Countries

Bibliographic Data

ID23392192
AuthorsAlejandro Portes, Lauren A Benton, Manuel Castells
Year1989
Pages327
Publication date1989-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
Reviewed byThe Informal Economy--Studies in Advanced and Less Developed Countries, Rickie Sanders, 1991
Reviewed byThe Informal Economy: Studies in Advanced and Less Developed Countries, Michael P Todaro, 1990
Reviewed byThe Informal Economy: Studies in Advanced and Less Developed Countries, Carroll J Bourg, 1990
VenueThe Informal economy (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherJohns Hopkins University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.56021/9780801837357
Open LibraryOL2045923M
ISBN9780801837357
LanguageEN
Citations received977

"A New York roofer requests payment in cash. A Bogota car mechanic sets up "shop" on a quiet side street. Four Mexican immigrants assemble semiconductors in a San Diego home. A Leningrad doctor sells needed medicine to a desperate patient. All are part of a growing worldwide phenomenon that is widely known but little understood. The informal or underground economy is thriving today, not only in the Third World countries where it was first reported and studied but also in Eastern Europe and the developed nations of the West. The Informal Economy is the first book to bring together studies from all three of these settings and to integrate them into a coherent theoretical framework. Taking an international perspective, the authors dispel a number of misconceptions about the informal economy. They make clear, for instance, that it is not solely a province of the poor. Cutting across social strata, it reflects a political and economic realignment between employers and workers and a shift in the regulatory mission of the government. Throughout, the authors' theoretical observations serve not only to unify material from diverse sources but also to map out directions for further research."--Back cover.

Case studies · Government policy · Informal sector (Economics)

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