Far from the vision of popular actors in the popular economy as reactionary and archaic, stubbornly resisting any move towards change, this book's overall aim is to contribute to a broadening and deepening of our understanding of the logic and socio-economic practices of those operating in the informal economy. It focuses on the vulnerabilities of these participants, resulting from high exposure to different risks combined with low social protection, and on the interactions between vulnerability and poverty. It considers security of livelihoods as the guiding principle for multiple practices in the informal economy. Thirteen studies, based on careful analyses of empirical data in different contexts in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, contribute to this multidisciplinary discussion. This book describes how people develop their own strategies to solve their problems through the use of interpersonal networks, associations, and other community-based arrangements. Moreover, it shows that informal economy actors systematically reposition themselves vis-a-vis the State, markets, international, and national policies with the aim of enhancing their economic and social security, and they may do this either individually or collectively. The book emphasizes how adaptability of the informal economy can be influenced by such factors as the macroeconomic context, access to financial, technological, and information resources, infrastructure, social protection schemes, and the institutional environment within which adaptations occur. Case studies stress the need to reformulate questions relating to policy intervention based on a more thorough understanding of the perspective of informal economy actors.
Foreword ; 1. Introduction: Informal Economy, Vulnerabilities, and Popular Security-Enhancing Practices ; PART I. A PLURALITY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC LOGICS: NEW POLANYIAN APPROACHES TO INFORMALITY AND VULNERABILITY ; 2. Popular Cooperatives and Local Development in Southeast Brazil: Towards Socio-Economic Pluralism ; 3. Solidarity and Protection in Bolivian Popular Economy ; 4. Self-managed Work, Social Protection, and Community Development: The Case of the UST Cooperative (Argentina) ; 5. An Analysis of the Socio-economic Logics Underpinning Formal and Informal Strategies for Coping with Economic Hardships in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo ; PART II. THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS IN SECURING LIVELIHOODS ; 6. Financial Practices as Adaptations to Increasing Vulnerability: The Dynamics of Solidarity and Protection in the Suburbs of Rosario, Argentina ; 7. Microcredit Policies in Brazil: An Analysis of Community Development Banks ; 8. Demand for Microcredit, Informal Finance and Vulnerability in Rural Morocco ; 9. Informal and Formal Microfinance in Urban Sub-Saharan African Markets: The Case of Micro-Entrepreneurs in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso ; 10. Exploring the Black-Box of Economic Informality: Social Networks and Institutional Change among Micro and Small Enterprises in Nairobi, Kenya ; PART III. FORMALIZING THE INFORMAL? A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT ; 11. Determinants of Earnings in Informal Self-Employment: The Case of Ghana ; 12. From the Street to the Store. The Formalization of Street Vendors in Quito, Ecuador ; 13. Formalizing the Informal in Rwanda: From Artisanal to Modern Brick and Tile Ovens ; 14. Neoliberal Reforms, Regulatory Change and the Informal Economy: The Case of Turkey from a Comparative Perspective ; Postface: Another Look at the Informal Sector, its Many Stakes and Challenges
(0 Comentarios)
