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Many people, despites being educated or not, struggle to find decent jobs in the formal economy. Some end-up working in the informal economy as self-employed/own-account workers. Informal economy is the largest employer with more potentials, employing approximately 61 percent of the global labour force. Despite different forms of occupations, street trading is the most visible occupation in the informal economy. There is a research gap between formal and informal economy, with most research done in the formal economy. It is recommended that micro-level individuals must be included in research to broaden knowledge. The informal economic activities are not reported in government statistics. It is odd because the informal economy is the largest global employer and street trading is found in both developed and developing economies. Informal economic activities are however associated with lack of growth and social security, money laundering, and financing of terrorist activities. The study was conducted to determine work engagement of street traders using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). The UWES is validated and used for quantitative studies in the formal economy. The instrument was pretested and piloted for quality appraisal purposes for validation and use in the informal economy. The general lack of credible records of street trading activities, makes it difficult for researchers to conduct studies using different methodologies in the informal economy. The convenience sampling strategy, a nonprobability sampling startegy, was used in choosing participants, and was most valid for solving the problem of the study, choosing participants accidentally on availability. Most quantitative studies involving street traders are restricted to using nonprobabiliity sampling, which is a concern. The high birth and/or mortality rate of street trading businesses make the database inconsistent to use as some do not report when exiting or entering. The lack of credible records/database of street trading activities, and over reliance on nonprobability sampling strategy, restrict the holistic generation of knowledge. The street traders' activities must be registered to develop from knowledge generated through research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Egypt, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are dominated with micro-enterprises, most of which are in the informal sector. Conventionally, Egyptians have been risk-averse, shying away from starting their own businesses. However, this mindset has recently changed, especially among women and the youth, and more so with the advent of information and communication technologies, particularly social media. This study examines the determinants of engaging in digital entrepreneurship (DE), focusing on women and the youth who are owners of informal MSMEs. The study combines the theory of planned behaviour with the diffusion of innovation theory as a conceptual framework. It tests whether an entrepreneur’s characteristics, attitudes, goals, and the innovation attributes of social media, in terms of perceived relative advantage, trialability, and observability have resulted in informal MSMEs’ DE adoption. A questionnaire was constructed, and data were collected through phone interviews with 408 Egyptian women and youth male entrepreneurs who own informal MSMEs that only operate online. Results of the statistical analysis reveal the significantly negative impact of selfconfidence and boredom on DE adoption. In contrast, making money, connectivity, self-actualization, and minimizing direct costs positively affects DE adoption. Research on MSMEs in Egypt is limited due to the lack of published data, especially regarding the informal ones. Furthermore, studies tackling DE adoption are scarce. This research contributes to the scant literature by providing a modified theoretical framework for future academic studies. The findings will be useful to future entrepreneurs. educators and policy makers to target economic development through MSME creation and the inclusion and empowerment of women and the youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Indian economy was liberalized in 1991 but it has risen on the wave of globalization. It appeared that nuances of liberalization were not understood in right perspective and hence economic growth which was achieved is mesmerizing but lacked substance. Even banking sector was not tuned to steady growth. MSME was neglected completely. Therefore, the benefit was available to services and it was hollow from the core. Since trade wave was high for long time, India could take the benefit of growth for some time but as the trade was imbalanced across the globe the problem was fast approaching and it proved accidental in 1997 but the collapse was total in 2008. It was the wrong doing of IMF which gave dollar a free hand and second it was the fast economies which had focused on export. The surplus of one country was deficit of the other thus defying the rules of IMF that trade is expected to remain balanced to avoid the devaluation of currency. Since economies were devastated in 2008, the competitive devaluation began to cause disruption in the trade and hence posed serious risk to economic growth of small economies. Since fiscal space was too limited because of the debt overhang, the monetary policies were tightened to maintain exchange control, the economies were fixed to a hook where the movement was stopped altogether. As a solution to recover the economies from deep pit, advanced economies had to infuse liquidity into the system, but its impact was too narrow and not broad based. No doubt the benefit of liquidity was available to Indian economy also but except to keep check on current account deficit there is no additional benefit because investment had fallen below 30%. To pick up the growth it is important that Investment in the industrial sector has to move up. There are numerous hiccups in the way and economy cannot be stretched beyond means. The recapitalization of banks is not very easy. Selectively if some sectors are given some tip off the results can be confusing at the most. Therefore hands are tied and the passage is not available. The picture would be clear once the dust of GST is settled down. Since the present regime is against the corruption informal economy may face initial shocks from the rules but later in years to come, there can be some widening. But how it would happen the things are not clear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have shown that motivations for young people to start self-employed businesses may be different from those of their older counterparts. For Sub-Saharan Africa's youth, the factors that motivate them to choose certain occupations go beyond solely economic benefits. These factors are often socio-culturally driven and include a desire to improve their life aspirations, identities and provide to them sense of belongingness. In many societies across the subregion, achieving what is considered 'appropriate 'or successful adulthood comes with certain expectations. To this end, there are clearly specified social markers that indicate the transition processes youths have to negotiate. Different types of work have different forms of status attached to them, both from youth and adult generation perspectives. This paper outlines the findings of a series of qualitative field interviews of 17 informal youth entrepreneurs in rural Ghana in 2017. Taking an innovative approach that integrates life-course theories with various strands of theories from the fields of economic sociology, migration studies and cultural anthropology, we build a coherent theoretical foundational lens through which to better understand the socio-cultural factors that drive young people to operate informal businesses in the rural economy. In turn, we demonstrate the need for more research on the hitherto under-researched role of informal institutions impacting on the participation of youth within informal economic practices. Our findings show that Sub- Saharan African youth in their attempt to attain adulthood learn and develop skills towards different occupations, building relationships and displaying behaviours that enable them to ascend positions of higher economic and social hierarchies. In a context where formal labour markets are weak, youths who operate self-employed businesses, particularly in the rural informal economy, are able to join and participate actively in trade and social networks. In turn, they utilize such network activities to access financial and social resources, thus contributing to developing their economic and social wealth. The paper's empirical findings also have clear policy implications. We argue for policy-makers at the regional and national levels to develop policies, which better reflect the dynamic nature of factors that drive informal enterprise activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal sector plays an important role in developing economies and peripheral rural regions, particularly in areas near borders. Businesses in the informal economy are flexible, adapting quickly to changing market demand and supply situations. This sector also generates employment, helps diversify economic activities, provides raw materials to local producers and helps alleviate poverty. Informal businesses are attractive to workers and companies worldwide because these firms typically require relatively little capital, offer greater independence and flexibility and provide opportunities for economic independence and better wages, as well as the most important advantage of evading regulations and taxation. Many entrepreneurs select the informal sector purely as a result of structural disadvantages arising from these individuals' gender, income, education, class, ethnicity or religion. Self-employed workers are considered by experts more likely to operate in the informal economy when these workers live in peripheral rural regions. The present study thus sought to identify the motivations of informal micro-enterprises and their role in the development of a rural border region in Portugal, analysing the perspective of micro-entrepreneurs, customers and local government. Qualitative data analysis was carried out on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 9 informal entrepreneurs from 3 different sectors (i.e. agro-food, agriculture and handicrafts) and 8 regular clients in a northern border region of Portugal. The content analysis of interviews was done with QSR International's NVivo Version 11 software. The results suggest that more than 75% of the informal entrepreneurs interviewed are innovative and independent and that they are passionate about their enterprises. They do not want to formalise their business because they do not see any advantage in doing so. In addition, customers and local government officials see these businesses as boosting economic development in their region. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of entrepreneurs' motivations to avoid legalising their micro-businesses and clients' perception of these enterprises. The results imply that researchers need to examine how national and local government policymakers can create laws that stimulate micro-entrepreneurs' transition from the informal to formal economy, including further dissemination of the benefits of formalising micro-businesses, especially in rural border regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been little conceptual frameworks developed on how scholars in the mobile marketing arena should measure mobile marketing acceptance in small businesses' entrepreneurs operating in the informal economies to drive sustainability and customer retention. The results reveal that perceived behavioral control and usability are antecedents of mobile marketing acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal economies account for up to 70% of GDP in developing countries, but few studies have explored informal entrepreneurship. To fill this gap, an exploratory study involving 855 University students in an emerging economy applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to study the cognitive process of informal entrepreneurship. The effect of Past Experience and Necessity Entrepreneurship on the intention to start a business are also explored. Our findings provide evidence that the decision to start a business in the informal economy reinforces the effect of subjective norms on entrepreneurial intentions. Implications for education programs and for theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is situated in a night market consisting of unlicensed hawkers in Hong Kong. The existing research on informal economies has presumed the relation of place and class as a given backdrop: an informal economy is a static workplace for the poor. To problematize this presumption, this paper uses Cultural Discourse Analysis (Carbaugh, 2007, 2016) to explore how hawkers constitute their identities and the meanings of place. Drawing from the participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 15 hawkers conducted between 2015 and 2016, two cultural terms of class identifications (i.e. the poor and businessman); and a term relating to the power dynamics in place, giving face, have been identified. The analysis shows these terms and associated practices constitute hawkers as precarious beings in place. This paper hopes to contribute to highlighting the constitutive role of place-based communication practice in making everyday precarity in place and contextualize precarity in developing Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic development of a country is a key factor for the development of all other spheres of life in the country. So, economic development affects directly, or indirectly in the development of the labor market. Governments of different countries, constantly found the challenge of finding appropriate solutions for sustainable economic development and reducing the number of the unemployed. Even Kosovo, like other countries around the world, faces this challenge. As a country emerging from war for 15 years, and with the declared independence since 2008, a country with a developing economy, of course this challenge is even more difficult.. People with average age of the youngest in Europe, and inability to provide employment opportunities, every day more and more is adding frustration to people. The dissatisfaction Was Observed Even with the large number of illegal migrants in recent months, who are Unable to find work, take the risk of traveling illegally to Europe, with the only hope of finding better opportunities of employment and lifestyle. Lack of accurate data on the number of unemployed, made it difficult to analyze this issue, this happens mainly due to the large number of unregistered workers, informal economy, etc. With a GDP of approximately 2,600 € per capita, Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe 34.5% of the 1.8 million inhabitants live in poverty, on less than € 1.55 per day (12% live in extreme poverty, with less than 1€ per day), so poverty is very high. There are no significant differences between poverty in urban and rural areas, but there are significant differences in different regions of Kosovo, where the poverty rate varies from 53.8 to 18 percent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development is now widely recognized. Under an appropriate institutional environment, human creativity and inventiveness -in other words, entrepreneurship- is the basis of economic progress. Entrepreneurship can thus be expected to lead to higher income levels and a reduction in poverty. In this paper we argue that this result also holds when we consider the activities of "shadow entrepreneurs", that is entrepreneurs who undertake their activities in the informal sector of the economy. More generally here we claim that informal activities are truly entrepreneurial in nature. Informality represents an individual's best response to an environment with sub-optimal institutions and, therefore, high costs of doing business. At the same time, the specter of poverty is an additional Incentive to engage in self-employment or to participate in the informal sector of the economy. We are aware that greater informality is a reflection of a bad institutional environment, as noted above, and thus has a negative effect on economic development. But this is, in effect, a comparison with a first-best institutional environment. In a secondbest world, informality also represents an important part of a country's entrepreneurial activity. It is in this sense that we hypothesize that the size of the shadow economy may have a positive impact on economic development, where we view this term in a broader sense than a simple measure of economic growth. To test our hypothesis we examine the relationship between informality and economic development empirically. Our work involves using different measurements of informality: an indirect index on informality as well as straightforward data on selfemployment collected by the International Labor Organization. We also consider necessity-based entrepreneurship, as estimated by the GEM consortium, as a new proxy of informality. Overall, we are concerned with the effects of these variables on measures of economic development, specifically, the United Nation's Human Development Index. This is a variable that has been used successfully before as a general indicator of wellbeing. Our econometric results provide evidence of a positive relationship between informal entrepreneurial activity and economic development, and confirm claims that living with some level of informality may be an efficient choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of the budget enables a direct link between policy priorities, as stated in the country's sectorial strategies, and the priorities in expenditures with the aim of an effective distribution of the country's available resources. A proper budget forecast, supported with clear objectives and set mid-term priorities for all expenditure programs, s a prerequisite for an effective and efficient management in the realization of public expenses. This approach helps us further in the fiscal discipline by enabling us to plan public expenditures realistically, within the macroeconomic and fiscal parameters. We have to add that Kosovo has shown continuous improvements of systematic and political mechanisms and instruments in developing, reviewing and adopting the budgetary plan. Low levels of budgetary revenues and sensible increases of public expenditures have exercised pressures thus, influencing a continuous reduction of government expenditures. Equal to budgetary revenues, government expenditures in Kosovo appear at a medium level of the transitional economies. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to present an overview of the budgetary expenditures in Kosovo during 2006-2008 and to show that by fighting the negative phenomena, such as the informal economy, the budget can increase and the entire country could benefit from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is a country with both high levels of marginalization in the labor force and a strong labor movement. The country's largest union federation, COSATU, enjoys relatively high institutional influence within the government and the ruling party. Because of its strong institutional position, some see it as favorably placed to be a political voice for the marginalized of South Africa. This paper compares COSATU's responses to marginalization to those of three independent unions. It determines that COSATU's institutional strength has allowed the federation to advocate for the marginalized in various ways. However, the institutional strength has also prevented COSATU from undertaking innovative forms of organizing and coalition building that would incorporate the marginalized into the union movement. It is independent unions and social movement organizations, who lack institutional power, who have made attempts at organizing the marginalized. The conclusion discusses the implications of the South African case for union movements elsewhere that follow the institutional model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local currency systems seek to build economic and social capital in their communities. This comprehensive, quantitative case study explores the motivations, trading patterns, and outcomes of participation in a "Time Bank." Membership survey data and organizational records are employed in social network and multiple regression analyses. Members are largely female, low-income, and highly educated. There is consistency in the types of people joining this Time Bank for social and economic reasons. Those who are motivated by their needs and those seeking more social ties are more likely to spend greater time participating. Overall, this Time Bank has been more successful in generating cultural and economic capital rather than social capital. Lower-income and unemployed participants are more likely to gain social capital outcomes however. Those located in denser trading networks report that they are more likely to get the services that they need and want. Those who joined for social reasons and those who are engaged more in this system are more likely to gain a variety of outcomes. The continuing growth of Time Banks and the findings here suggest that this movement is efficacious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study explores the emergence of an art community in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) region of South Texas. In researching this objective, I relied on observations at many gallery public functions where I had the opportunity to observe the interactions between prospective buyers, gallery owners and artists. I also visited with gallery owners and artists many times in small group settings where I raised open ended questions about the region's artists and other historical developments that would allow me to put together a cohesive story about the emergence of the art community. This study began as an unstructured exploration into the formation of the RGV art community. In the process of pursuing this objective, I was exposed to grounded theory and realize that as a qualitative methodology it provided the best fit between my overall research perspective and the open approach of artists to their work. Relying on the methodology of grounded theory, this research tells a story. The story of regional artists, from both sides of the border; who were by chance or purpose drawn into the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and who together began to gradually build the Valley art community. The observations which were extracted from grounded theory included: the artists' motivations for engaging in the arts, unique characteristics and lifestyles of the artists', including hedonism and consumerism, which I have labeled here as a counter consumer culture, and observations of how the artists' unique attributes equip them with a high amount of social capital and strong assets for collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the social construction of order in the informal economy. The case study involves two very large and successful flea markets in the New York metropolitan area and their source of successful acquisitions of goods and services in the informal economy or as I call it - the cash underground economy. It demonstrates the socio-cultural influences on economic behavior from an interactionist perspective. As such, it seeks to demonstrate Durkheim's axiom: there can be no economics without pre-established cultural norms, the concepts of contract, and the moral sentiments and social understandings as underpinnings for economic action. Concepts as trust, reciprocity, mutual dependencies, cooperation, common agreements that are embedded in culture, are explored from a human centered approach. Lastly, it allows for a re-examination of some of the fundamental postulates of neoclassical economic theory such as an economy and business transactions as being separate from society and 'outside influences', consisting of atomistic individuals relating as lone individuals coldly calculating and maximizing their own utility. Quite the contrary view is described here. The rich, contextual, multifaceted, interpersonal qualities of exchange are established. How these recurrent expectations and concerns of economic actors get organized into roles and relationships is the focus of this paper. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing smoking rates in the U.S. to approximately 23% of the population is a great success story for public health, but public health has focused insufficiently on young adults, particularly those not attending college. Recent survey data from Baltimore, reveal that in some inner-city communities, over half of the young adults (18-24 years old) smoke cigarettes. This paper explores the community level factors contributing to high smoking rates among young adults in Baltimore. Our analysis is based on focus group data from a one-year community based participatory research project with two job training organizations (Urban Youth Corps and Youth Build in Sandtown-Winchester). We present data from four focus groups with 28 program participants (23 smokers and 5 non-smokers). Our analysis focuses on two emergent themes. First, the importance that participants placed on sharing cigarettes and smoking together, and second, the impact of ubiquitous loose cigarette vendors within the community on cigarette acquisition. We conclude that there are community-specific factors that specifically undermine existing tobacco prevention efforts at the policy level. Policy planning needs to include a consideration of the impact of community structures on implementation, in order to reduce health disparities caused by smoking, instead of facilitating widening the gap. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the determinants of homelessness among day laborers in San'ya, Tokyo's largest yoseba, or day labor ghetto. Yoseba have long served as kakikomidera, or "temples of refuge," for Japan's unemployed. However, under the Heisei Recession since 1990 demand for day laborers has dramatically declined and homelessness has exploded. While the link between the recession and rising homelessness among day laborers has been affirmed by social science researchers in Japan, this paper is the first research effort to empirically explore the factors that determine whether or not an individual day laborer becomes homeless. A binomial logistic regression analysis is performed on survey data from day laborers in San'ya, showing that, contrary to expectation, characteristics such as youth and possession of job-related skills were not found to significantly prevent homelessness. However, day laborers were able to draw on their formal education, past experiences as a day laborer, and interpersonal connections with labor brokers to avoid homelessness. These relationships with employers proved to have the largest impact, suggesting that this form of social capital is the most important asset in avoiding homelessness in Japan's yoseba. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Street Markets commonly known as Ferias Libres in Santiago de Chile are being threatened. With the consolidation of structural reforms in Latin American, locational models of enterprises has been changing, making possible large retail enterprises such as supermarkets and malls to locate close to working class neighborhoods that were not accessible in earlier times and which were classically served by informal channels of commerce such as street vending. During the late twentieth century, while the presence of supermarkets and malls is increasingly associated with large urban renewals, municipalities have incorporated street markets to limit their growth within suitable commercial areas. For street vendors, economic spatial behavior (the 'search for the client') has been controlled in such a way that their right to use the public space is claimed as a political issue. This paper explores how images of public space between public officials and street vendors are expressed in the regulation currently enforced for street markets in Santiago de Chile. Summarizing data from interviews and secondary sources, compiled during summer 2004 and 2005, from public officials and street vendors' organizations, I search for identifying contemporary trends on the political struggle for public space. A claim is being made that this regulation policy illustrates the inadequacy of the aim to transform lived spaces to controlled and planned spaces. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the efforts of the New York mass transit authorities to stem the tide of theft-of-service using governmental, technological and design instruments. While these efforts were narrowly successful, they interacted in unintended ways to produce a series of consequences, a variant on Strauss' "cumulative mess trajectory". These new problems include public safety liabilities, a blunting of police strategy and, the focus of this paper, a new informal economy brokering illegal entry into the subway system. This practice, known as "selling swipes" is described in detail based on information from interviews with New York subway workers who observe this practice, as well as on-site observations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration researchers know that many types of intermediary are involved in the process of migration and settlement from formal to informal ones. Many studies, however, overlook what kinds of role an intermediary undertakes, aside from a utilitarian point of view. Through a case study of Latino day laborers and nonprofit organizations, the paper argues that the role of intermediary is to reinforce the legitimacy of casual employment of undocumented workers in the U.S. They use the Workers' Center as a space to mold undocumented workers to socially desirable subjects. First, they foster a state of 'governmentality from below' (Feurguson and Gupta 2002) among day laborers by using the notion of democracy as a source of power. Then, they proclaim the workers' civic citizenship by presenting them to the people in adjacent neighboring communities as a harmless and hard-working group of people who are just waiting for work outside. They also advertise the availability of day laborers in newspapers and at media conferences. Through these activities, what an intermediary actually does is that they erase the shadowy image of hiring undocumented workers, and imbues the public with a new perspective that we are supporting their alternative economic adjustment to the American economy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globalization and liberalization era has resulted in an increased proportion of workers who do not receive secure wages or social benefits either from employers or the state. This study examines how the informal nature of employment affects workers' collective action strategies in India, the largest democracy in the world. Contrary to much of the globalization literature on labor and on social movements to date, I find that informal workers are organizing along class lines to improve their livelihoods through demands for state-supported benefits. Their informal employment conditions have, however, altered their mobilization strategies to create a new form of unionism that appeals to the state, rather than the employer, for increases in welfare (such as support for health care, education, and housing) rather than workers' rights (such as minimum wages and job security). In addition, because their employers change frequently, informal workers organize around the neighborhood, rather than the shop floor. Given the growing rhetoric about the decline in workers' movements and the decreased welfare state, these findings are surprising and reveal important insights into what strategies are available for marginalized groups to express their political voice, even as state policies erode their material circumstances. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine a sample of urban fathers, all of whom were unwed at the time that their children were born. Integrating research on race, poverty, family, work, and crime, this study tests whether fathers' participation in regular work, underground employment, and illicit hustles affects involvement with children in a similar fashion. The results show that the more time that fathers spend engaged in hustling, the less involved they are with their children. In contrast, time spent working in other forms of the urban underground economy, such as off-the-books work and time spent working in the formal economy have no effect on father involvement. These effects persist even after controlling for fathers' race/ethnicity, age, educational attainment, and cohabitation status/relationship with their children's mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shoppers tend to buy in the nearest place. Central Place theory, which began with the rise of industrial cities, posits that the urban structure of commerce is conditioned by the concentration of population and access to transport within central areas of the city. In Santiago de Chile, while the presence of supermarkets and malls is increasing, municipalities have regulated street vending to limit their growth within suitable commercial areas. For these actors, economic spatial behavior (the 'search for the client') has been controlled in such a way that their right to use the public space is claimed as a political issue. This paper aims to identify the spatial patterns of local street markets compared to supermarkets in terms of potential population demand and neighborhood characteristics. Using Census data for 1992 and 2000, with a sample of six selected districts in Santiago, a distance & cost weighted-distance spatial analysis have been applied demonstrating that street markets are more sensitive to neighborhood socioeconomic deterioration than increasing population demand. I argue that this situation demonstrates the nature of a more pronounced segmented market and inequality among the population living in Santiago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study related to workers in the informal sector in India. As part of the study, the author conducted several interviews with labor leaders, government officials, and workers in India. The study focused on seven informal worker organizations in three Indian states. The author found that informal workers in India are organizing in order to improve their living conditions through government-supported benefits. Informal workers in the country are also organizing along class lines.

The article focuses on free goods transactions. According to the status of the recipient, the value and extent of these free resources varies vastly. These goods tend to be transacted informally. Free stuff including plastic flatware, condiment packets, straws and salt complete a system needed to make related commodities consumable in a conventional way. People extract benefit from free stuff by giving them away to lower status people. Statistical examinations of wealth and the economy can be enriched by identifying the retail values of substantive free things.

This paper examines patterns of self-identification among immigrant day laborers on the street corners of San Francisco, focusing in particular on the ways in which they seek and affirm dignity in the face of rampant stigmatization, ever-present uncertainty and poverty. Drawing upon interviews and ethnographic data, it presents evidence that many who work in this informal labor market maintain a sense of dignity and claim their moral worth by fashioning themselves as entrepreneurs, jacks-of-all trades and/or role models, taking pride in the seemingly unparalleled autonomy this work affords them as well as in the skill and work ethic their work purportedly exemplifies. These findings challenge popular perceptions about immigrant day laborers as well as existing scholarship on the relationship between work and dignity among the urban subproletariat. This paper furthermore argues that attempts to affirm this dignified status come all too often at the expense of others. Many of these street corner day laborers engage in a variety of practices of social distancing and differentiation, deflecting stigma onto other "undesirables" who share the same social space and joining in the dominant discourse of denouncing those who undeservingly profit from social assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study about the social order that existed among the men at the workplace. The social order among day laborers helped to illustrate the implications of various identity positions in the exchanges that took place on the street corner that were not solely restricted to exchanges of labor. Building on the literature of Herbert Blumer and Erving Goffman, this study examines the management of identity in the workplace. There were powerful implications of race and ethnicity in the exchanges that took place at the worksite. The study illustrates how gender is an integral element in the work processes that took place on the street corner.

In this paper, using an institutional theory perspective, we contribute to the body of knowledge about the process of transition from informal to formal economy through the study of SEWA's involvement in empowerment of street vendors in India. By situating our research in the context of institutional voids and deep poverty, we draw attention to the role of intermediary in empowering of disempowered actors in an informal economy. Through our case study, we identify three processes through which the non-marginalized actor achieves empowerment of the street vendors: (i) creation of collective identity among street vendors; (ii) regulatory entrepreneurship that involves initiating and influencing creation of national laws regulating street vendor activities; and, (iii) making sure that the law becomes available and meaningful to the vendors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on the informal economy, corruption and entrepreneurship posits that corruption is detrimental for entrepreneurship. However, no literature addresses entrepreneurs who identify opportunities of profit, facilitated by corruption across national borders. While the literature often paints entrepreneurs, including international entrepreneurs, as honey bees whose entry is always beneficial to the home economy, in this paper I suggest that they may be more akin to flies who are attracted to shadow deals of questionable legality. I attempt to address this gap by drawing on imprinting theory of organizations to theoretical justify why such a phenomenon is possible. I develop and apply the elements of imprinting theory to four proposals and discuss the connection between corruption, informal economy and international entrepreneurship from the lens of imprinting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R&D intensive firms have become increasingly important over the past a few decades, at least partly because of the value they create for stakeholders. The research dealing with such firms has begun to focus on their international strategies in that these firms demonstrate a different foreign investment trajectory compared to traditional firms. Built on the international entrepreneurship literature, our study extends the current understanding by showing that contrary to the research based on transaction cost logic, firms with high R&D intensity prefer to enter into a foreign country with lower equity ownership. This investment preference is also influenced by the formal and informal economies in the host countries. In particular, countries with a developed formal economy have a higher likelihood of hosting entry with greater equity control. In contrast, when the informal economy is prominent, the likelihood of entry is stronger but with a lower preference for high equity control. The findings demonstrate that the preference of entry mode for R&D intense firms has changed, catalyzed by the importance of innovation across industries to remain globally competitive. . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study focusses on starting a small business in Tanzania, a developing country. This is not a voluntary action per se, but rather a complex event where the owner has to deal with two other influences external to entrepreneurial motivation: gender disparities and the (in)formality of the small business. In contrast to the majority of prior studies which have largely, and often quantitatively, researched the three subjects through the perspective of laws, regulations and rules that are provided by the formal institutions to structure economic activity, our study enriches the literature the insights stemming from the personal stories of small business owners and experts. Through these insights, this study contributes to the literature by showing how necessity forces small business owners to seize opportunities can make them feel proud, particularly the women who deal with overcoming gender inequalities and who are often active in the informal economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal entrepreneurs operating in impoverished settings characterized by high institutional voids are limited in their capacity to elevate themselves out of poverty due to their inability to draw on formal institutions that facilitate and support the accumulation of resources and growth. However, as informal entrepreneurs interact with the formal economy they encounter institutional pluralism which results in competing pressures and conflicts between normative and regulatory expectations about operating in the informal economy. Using a unique government survey of entrepreneurs in urban slums in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this study examines the factors that influence whether an entrepreneur crosses institutional boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paid informal work has commonly been conceptualised as a form of paid employment heavily imbued with profit motivations. However, this article argues that such a market-oriented reading of paid informal exchange is often inappropriate. Using evidence from fifty interviews conducted with households in a large Pakistani community in the UK lends support to post-structuralist explanations of informal work. The results problematize the widespread use of neoliberal and structuralist theorizations to explain the prevalence of the informal economy in developed economies. Instead, the results highlight certain implicit social constructs existing within the labour process of informal businesses. Motivations drawn from these social artefacts, or what can be termed as 'immigrant agency', are found to be a major reason for Pakistani employers and employees engaging in mutually beneficial exchanges in the informal economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between trust and venture performance has been systematically examined on samples from developed economies, frequently producing positive associations. However, little is known about the relationships between trust and performance among ventures in base-of-the-pyramid (BOP) markets. We address this issue using a sample of 276 ventures in Swaziland. This study finds a negative relationship between entrepreneurs' trust in exchange partner and performance. The results also show that new ventures' level of formality and venture size moderate this relationship. The findings add to our understanding of when entrepreneur's trust in their exchange partners represents an asset or a liability for ventures in BOP markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal economy remains an understudied and misunderstood phenomenon. This research responds to recent calls by management scholars to examine the informal economy within the bottom of the pyramid. Drawing upon both entrepreneurship research and institutional theory this research contributes to current knowledge by examining business registration based on the interaction between institutional environments and the attributes of entrepreneurs engaged in the entrepreneurship process. Using data from a unique government survey of an urban slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, results indicate that both crossing institutional boundaries and an entrepreneur's attributes are strong predictors of operating legally as a registered business. Implications for policymakers and management research along with potential avenues for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal entrepreneurship--the formation but not registration of new firms--is by nature difficult to study. This paper contributes to an emerging literature on the subject by exploring the role political conditions play in the incidence of formal and informal entrepreneurship. We employ a quasi-experimental approach by exploiting variance in political conditions and political shocks across countries. We develop a conceptual model and test our hypotheses on a sample of 62 countries in the time period 2003- 2010. Our results highlight a nuanced view of the relationship between political conditions and entrepreneurial activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some informal firms in developing countries intend to formalize by registration with the government while others do not. Integrating institutional and resource dependence theories, our results showed that, informal firms in institutional contexts with less freedom are more constrained by external environments since resources are mostly controlled by the government. Therefore, informal firms there will have stronger intentions to formalize. In addition, informal firms' resource dependency level on external environments moderates the negative relationship between national economic freedom and informal firms' formalization intentions. This study contributes to the informal economy literature by addressing what motivates informal firms to formalize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine how informal economy entrepreneurs come to see laws as illegitimate and explore the role identity plays in motivating informal economy entrepreneurship. Analysis of interviews with 27 cannabis dispensary founders showed that entrepreneur experience with cannabis and traditional medicines revealed flaws with arguments against use of cannabis as medicine, causing entrepreneurs to view medical cannabis prohibition as founded upon ignorance and misinformation, and therefore illegitimate. Perception of prohibition's illegitimacy moved entrepreneurs to act on a variety of identity processes, including desire for authentic work, desire to overcome stigma, desire to fulfill valued roles, and desire to create a world in alignment with key values. Factors relevant to social movements such as moral shock and injustice frames were also important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to our understanding of the influence of poverty on entrepreneurial activities in the informal economy. The informal economy, base of the pyramid (BoP), and subsistence marketplace literatures offer insights on how the BoP market segment could become customers. What this research has not yet addressed is why some potential consumers do not purchase a product. We examine this question using a framework that incorporates a multi-dimensional view of poverty. Using a rich and unique set of survey data collected from the BoP in the informal economy in the developing world, our results indicate that three dimensions of poverty - economic, capability, and relationship well-being - influence the likelihood of purchasing a product. Additionally, the influences of these poverty dimensions can vary, including by income level. These findings demonstrate that incorporating a multi-dimensional view of poverty can enhance our understanding of entrepreneurial activity, capability development, and consumer behavior in the informal economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilize concepts of legality, legitimacy, government effectiveness, trust and identity to develop hypotheses about antecedents of tax morale. We rely on the institutional approach that links the cognitive and normative aspects. We posit that tax morale of business owner-managers is related to their beliefs about political and tax institutions. We also argue that as well as looking at macro level, one needs to consider the micro level factors and meso level social structures, in particular: norms of behavior observed in the close neighborhood of the entrepreneur. We test our hypotheses based on survey data on owners-managers of Latvian businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of religious institutions in shaping the formal as well as informal economy in rapidly developing cities in the Arabian Gulf. Focusing on one religious institution, Roman Catholicism, this study draws on data from six months of participant observation and interviews (N=70) with expatriates of diverse nationalities and occupations in five Gulf cities. Results shed light on ways in which religious institutions can provide two forms of cultural capital--technical and ideational--that contribute to members' economic survival in the formal as well as informal economy. Findings resonate with some previous research in the west on spirituality in the workplace, but also suggest new directions for the fruitful study of the relationship between religion and economic globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a grounded theory based on comparative case studies of communities of place in partnerships with mining multinational enterprises (MNEs), we build a theoretical foundation to examine the existence and growth of the informal economy among rural poor communities in East Africa. We show that when mining MNEs' managers effectively utilize employees to influence communities' behavior and attitudes toward addressing poverty through entrepreneurial initiatives, mutually beneficial economic and social outcomes can occur. This suggests that the interplay between mining MNEs, local employees and communities presents new entrepreneurial opportunities that can enhance sustainability and eradicate poverty in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to the call for deeper analysis of the informal economy using innovative data and methods, our study tests and extends existing theory through transaction-level data involving off-the-books loans issued to employees by business owners. Our analysis of 459 separate transactions from 83 firms reveals that individuals will engage in informal economic activity even when formal market alternatives exist if those formal alternatives are unattractive or unfair. By extending key theoretical tenets of relational exchange and relational rents into this new context, we demonstrate that surplus can be created when owners and employees abandon formal markets and institutions by resorting to complementary exchange through informal economic mechanisms. This study of off-the-books transactions provides a rare portal to informal market decision-making and behavior. We find that business owners can internalize the information costs related to an employee's credit worthiness at a lower cost than can be achieved by formal credit markets. In complementary fashion, a valued employee can internalize more cheaply the owner's information costs related to identifying good and faithful labor. Paradoxically, however, we find that credit-challenged workers who obtain short-term financial relief through off-the-books loans also find themselves subject to disadvantageous forces of paternalism and peonage, particularly minority employees. Our study reveals that while both parties share in the creation of a relational surplus, business owners deftly appropriate the surplus by binding employees to the firm. The findings strongly support notions propounded by Venkatesh, Portes and others that the informal economy simultaneously creates opportunities and complications for disadvantaged participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]