How to Survive and Become Rich Amidst Devastation
The Second Economy in Zaire
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6022262 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Janet Macgaffey (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue | 328 |
| Pages | 351-366 |
| Publication date | 1983-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-9909 • E-ISSN: 1468-2621 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a097535 |
| OpenAlex | W2230293135 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 1 |
THE ACTIVITIES variously known as the second, irregular, parallel or informal economy, or popularly referred to as the black market, are currently the focus of a lot of attention in both underdeveloped and developed countries. This paper will describe the pervasiveness of these activities in Zaire, where the expansion of the second economy results not only from a situation of gross shortages of goods, declining production and wages too low to live on at the current price structure, but also from the articulation of different modes of production in the Zairian economy. This articulation takes place when commodities are produced at low cost under non-capitalist relations of production and then sold for high prices in capitalist markets. Accumulation of wealth by these means provides opportunities for economic mobility and has significant effects on the process of class formation. Before proceeding further it is necessary to define the second economy. Accounting of the gross national product excludes illegal activities and others which, while not illegal in themselves, are carried out in a manner that avoids taxation. These unreported and unmeasured activities, falling outside a society's techniques for monitoring economic activity, make up the second economy.1 Its activities are thus, by definition, outside the control of the state, or, in Nelson Kasfir's terms, 'autonomous from the state'.2 This feature of the second economy is critical for the study of class in Africa because of the emphasis in the literature'on the primary role of the state in the process of class formation since independence. Recent interest in the second economies of the different countries derives
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| Unique citing works | 19 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,47 |
| Citation span | 1986 - 2024 (39) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |