Related Pages listed by

Informal Economy Topic(s): History & Debates

Agenda-Setting Research Conference

speaker at Agenda-Setting Research conferenceOver the past decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in the informal economy as it continues to grow and to appear in new guises around the world. More institutions and individuals have begun to do research on the informal economy. But many of them begin by asking the age-old questions regarding the definition, composition, and causal explanation of the informal economy.

The Informal Economy: Thumbnail History of the Concept

1950s +1960s: widely-held notion that industrialization would lead to demise of traditional/marginal activities – W. Arthur Lewis’ Nobel Prize-winning essay on structural dualism in labour markets with surplus labour

early 1970s: recognition of persistence of traditional activities – coining of “informal sector” term – Keith Hart study in Ghana + ILO World Employment Mission to Kenya

late 1970s + early 1980s:  different theories of the informal sector/economy: dualist, structuralist, legalist, voluntarist

WIEGO Network: Holistic Framework

Composition

Six-Segment Model by Status of Employment

In the International Classification of Status of Employment, five statuses of employment – employer, employee, own account worker, unpaid contributing family worker, and member of producer cooperative– are defined by the type/degree of economic risk (of losing job and/or earnings) and of authority (over establishment and other workers).

World Bank: A Holistic Framework

In 2007, the Latin America division of the World Bank brought out a publication entitled Informality: Exit and Exclusion co-authored by Guillermo Perry, William F. Maloney, Omar Arias, Pablo Fajnzylber, and Jaime Saavedra. In this publication, the co-authors presented a holistic framework of the composition and causes of informality, as follows:

Ravi Kanbur: A Holistic Framework

In 2009, Ravi Kanbur, Professor of Economics at Cornell University, posited a conceptual framework for distinguishing between four types of economic responses to regulation, as follows:

A. Stay within the ambit of the regulation and comply.
B. Stay within the ambit of the regulation but not comply.
C. Adjust activity to move out of the ambit of the regulation.
D. Outside the ambit of the regulation in the first place, so no need to adjust.
 

The Informal Economy Debate: Four Dominant Schools of Thought

Dualist School:

Keith Hart: Coiner of Term “Informal Sector”

Late 1960s Study in Accra, Ghana

View all related pages