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The development of the world economy created its own footprint as a result of the phenomenon. 1/3 of that space is owned by the informal economy also referred to as the Local Economy or System D. The connotation is to imagine a work phenomenon that is truly universal without a clear basis for labor. This increasingly sophisticated and world-class phenomenon takes the place of economic space left by the formal economy. The manipulation of the vast resources, the dynamic practices that take place in the legal and illegal dimensions, provide a guarantee of employment shadowed by survival. This paper traces the phenomenon occurring on the Sebatik Islands of Malaysia and Indonesia. The study method was qualitative based on the interviews of key informants. The results suggest that this phenomenon occurs due to the fact that economic space and opportunities can be exploited for the sake of sustainability in meeting economic demands, especially marginalized groups at the border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suitcase trade is a common activity along state borders in Asia. Existing scholarship has often viewed such suitcase trade as locally embedded activities characterised by informality. This article contends that this perception underestimates the diversity and complexity of suitcase trade. This is illustrated with a case study of the Pearl River Delta region of southern China, where thousands of suitcase traders carry goods across the borders between mainland China and its two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. Several patterns of operation run in parallel, ranging from petty traders working alone to highly-organised group operators. While each individual transaction is small scale and based on informal networks, the entire chain of operations is run by syndicates that are highly organised, commercial, with well-defined divisions of labour, and on a large scale. We describe such a combination of organisational competence and informal networks as "organised informality." The concept allows us to expand the analytical horizon to cover those cross-border exchanges that incorporate modern commercial practices in otherwise non-formal settings. It also bridges the oft-criticised dichotomies of formal-informal and licit-illicit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory article revisits cross-border shadow exchanges in a comparative perspective and reflects on their theoretical implications. It explores the diversities and complexities of shadow operations and critically examines the concept of informality that is commonly used to describe such non-state-sanctioned practices. It further underlines the key role played by checkpoint politics in border governance. Border checkpoints serve both as a state institution in regulating border crossings as well as a political site where material and power exchanges among state and non-state actors are negotiated. Such negotiation of selective passage through state-controlled gateways is often predicated upon the skilful manipulation of time and space by experienced traders and brokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marked in part by a narrow river, the border between the neighbouring provinces of Loei in Thailand and Sayaboury in the Lao PDR appears to be porous and unregulated. While a Friendship Bridge regulates large-scale international trade, an extensive amount of informal, small-scale trade continues to flow across smaller checkpoints and other parts of the river. Trade along these sites is not only highly organised, most of it also happens under the gaze of border officials. This article examines the material and power exchanges that occur at local checkpoints between the different actors involved in the facilitation and restriction of trade. Between Loei and Sayaboury, trade is regulated according to a spectrum of licitness that is constantly negotiated and renegotiated between traders and officials. Negotiations rely on the social relations between these actors and involve practices of gift-giving and bribery, which blur the boundaries between reciprocity and corruption. By focusing on the interactions between state and non-state actors, this article sheds light on the way the informal economy is configured by checkpoint politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]