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Street vendors are an indispensable part of the urban social ecosystem, but due to a lack of comprehensive understanding, many cities have adopted simple eviction policies, resulting in the gradual marginalization and stigmatization of the street economy. The efficient governance of street vendors requires the comprehensive investigation of their business scale and spatial distribution information. However, traditional methods have limitations in terms of automatically surveying large-scale street vendor information, particularly spatial distribution. This paper proposes a method for the automatic investigation spatial distribution of street vendors based on street-view images and a deep-learning object recognition model. Street-view images were collected at fixed intervals according to the urban road network, and 1,957 images containing one or more vendors were selected through human-machine interaction to establish street vendor label data. To achieve high recognition model accuracy, the category labels were subdivided into four categories: ground stalls, table stalls, tricycle stalls, and small truck stalls, based on the goods carriers used by street vendors. A deep neural-network-based image object detection model based on YOLO v4 was constructed to identify street vendors in the street-view image library, with an average F1 value of 0.77 and an mAP of 0.67. The accuracy of the model was satisfactory for investigating the number and location of street vendors covering the main roads in the city and then applying a kernel density distribution model to evaluate the spatial distribution pattern of street vendors. Using street vendors in Guangzhou as a case study, the proposed automatic investigation model identified 26,119 street vendors from 3,339,062 street-view images. The results showed that the street vendors were distributed in a multicenter aggregation pattern in the central urban area, mainly concentrated in areas with high pedestrian traffic, such as subway stations and urban villages; their numbers increased as road grades decreases. Street vendors were mainly distributed in areas with medium rents. The proposed method is helpful for performing the efficient, low-cost, and city-scale mapping of street vendors; the results obtained provide suggestions for formulating and implementing spatial governance policies for the informal economy and further provide suggestions for improving and implementing spatial governance policies for open and diverse urban street-view images. The results can be used as a reference for the location preference analysis of practitioners, the exploration of NIMBY syndrome, and the determination of the formalization zone. Although street-view images have an insufficient spatiotemporal coverage, using them to perform street vendor investigations is a low-cost and efficient method compared with the use of traditional investigation methods and data sources. In addition, the method proposed in this article can be coupled with multitask deep learning algorithms to investigate additional dimensions of street vendor information, such as the sex, age, and type of business of street vendors. Relevant research needs to be conducted in the future.

This article analyzes texts written by users of Russian-language digital communication platforms on the topic of emigration to the Republic of Korea. The purpose of the study was to determine what meanings are attributed to the Republic in these texts, and how these images can affect the migration strategies of Russian-speaking migrants. The texts were sourced from relevant communities inside the largest social networks by the number of Russian-speaking users. The research method of choice was discourse analysis. Korea was regarded as an intersectional symbol that combines “migrant” texts into a single discourse. Its significance was determined by means of the authors of the messages constructing associations between the host country and certain situations and actions. It was established that pendulum migrants working in the country illegally, educational migrants, intermediaries, and communities of fans of Korean popular culture are most actively involved in shaping the image of Korea within the considered social media platforms. The messages posted by those users who focus on the shadow segment of the labor market portray Korea as a country that deals with visitors employed in this segment in as lenient a manner as possible. During the visa-free period, you can earn more here than in six months back home, without knowing the language and without having any skills, after which you can go home and return to Korea again once the money you earned has run out. This group describes the following strategy: you enter the country as a tourist for 60 days, and find a job on “samushil” or through an intermediary. Then return to Russia temporarily, or stay in Korea illegally, or use such mechanisms as political asylum and marriage of convenience. Educational migrants describe Korea as a developed, safe and wealthy country, with optimal conditions for permanent residency. Many describe the following strategy: get into the country on a student visa, receive an education, find a job in areas somehow related to servicing Russian-speaking migration flows. Some count on legalization through marriage to a member of the host community. Groups dedicated to Korean popular culture associate the Republic with a male idol, overconsumption, scenery and drama characters. Their users might describe either of the strategies mentioned above. A group of intermediaries reproduces the images conveyed by the texts produced by illegal migrants and k-pop communities, idealizing Korea and omitting the numerous difficulties and risks associated with staying there. Intermediaries essentially provide customers with the opportunity to become a part of this image by selling them paths of migration to and integration in Korea, which are often utilized by pendulum and educational migrants. According to G. Klein’s model of decision-making in a situation of uncertainty, it can be assumed that “migrant” social media containing these images contribute to the dissemination and reproduction of appropriate migration strategies, influencing the direction and content of migration flows between Korea and the CIS countries.

Context and background The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into businesses has become increasingly widespread in recent years, particularly in developed countries, fundamentally reshaping the landscape of entrepreneurship and innovation. AI presents numerous opportunities for small businesses, including those involved in cross-border trade. It has the potential to transform various aspects of business operations, such as customer interactions, marketing research, understanding consumer behavior, optimizing routes, and forecasting sales and marketing trends. Additionally, AI can contribute to the formalization of business processes, and assist these businesses in adapting more effectively to the ever-changing dynamics of the market. However, the successful implementation of AI necessitates a meticulous assessment of AI applications to ensure alignment with the objectives and resources of each individual small business. Goal and Objectives: The primary focus of this paper is to explore the potential of Artificial Intelligence in enhancing Africa's cross-border trade. The paper will address the following research questions: What are the effective applications of artificial intelligence in cross-border informal trade in Africa, and what are the limitations? What does the future hold for African countries in terms of utilizing artificial intelligence for cross-border trade? How can African informal cross-border traders and their stakeholders benefit from incorporating artificial intelligence in their activities? Methodology: The research is purely empirical research based on observation and measurement of phenomena, as directly experienced by the researcher. Results: AI can be effectively applied by Informal Cross-Border Traders (ICBT) to enhance their businesses and enhance competitiveness. There are several AI applications accessible to ICBT within their operational context. Although the adoption and utilization of AI in Africa are still in their infancy, there is considerable promise for the future. Africans must address the challenges hindering the adoption and utilization of AI, as technology is advancing rapidly, and opportunities await those who embrace it.

This article argues that the gig economy is an exploitative extension of the informal economy. With its decentralised promise of individual entrepreneurship, I will argue that it places undue burdens on the worker as an ‘independent contractor’ that would otherwise be upheld by the employer. I will do so by applying a Marcusian analysis of the gig economy, highlighting two primary concerns. First, Marcuse’s critique of ‘industrial rationality’ explains how industrial rationality creates the framework for – and justification of – exploitation within the gig economy. Second, as Wendy Brown notes, following Marcuse, the gig economy promotes the neoliberal notion of ‘self-care’ as a means of absolving corporations from any duty towards their employees. More specifically, ‘self-care’ within the gig economy forms part of the exploitation of workers within the informal economy which is often viewed as a buffer to absorb the unemployed within a neoliberal society. Building on this critique, I refer to the work of Byung-Chul Han and his concept of ‘self-exploitation,’ arguing that the gig economy should be considered an extension of an informal economy, in which workers are left in a perpetual state of servitude.

The Swedish Servant Acts compulsed everyone without an occupation to take up service as a servant. However it is unclear to what extent this compulsion was actually enforced. Repeated complaints from the authorities give the impression that it was largely ignored. One suspicion was that people chose to live with relatives rather than taking service. A list compiled by the Stockholms authorities enables a quantification of mostly women who evaded service around 1755. The study shows that up to a fifth of all female servants were suspected of being live ins rather than employed as servants, and most of them problably earned their living in the informal sector of the urban economy. A comparison with tax registers reveals that these people were accounted for. In conclusion, while historical scholarship is dependent upon ample source material, this study suggests that a good part of the servant population was recorded in tax registers, but that the nature of their service might not have been properly accounted for, and that many servants provided for themselves on an extensive informal economy of the city which is difficult to quantify.

The objective of this document is to introduce the datasets and the methods for accessing them, derived from the article “Social, commercial, and economic diversity. Poverty and expectations among street vendors in Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia.” These datasets aim to provide insights into the conditions and characteristics of street vending in Colombia. The data collection process involved both mapping and personal surveys conducted on 190 street vendors. Additionally, practical recommendations are provided for tailoring the implementation of each survey instrument based on the specific attributes of the study's target demographic. The collected data holds the potential for comparative and longitudinal analyses, not only within different Colombian cities but also in cities worldwide facing similar circumstances to those of intermediate cities like Florencia. These datasets offer a valuable resource for understanding the dynamics of street vending and its implications, fostering more comprehensive research and informed policymaking.

This article analyses the strengths and bottlenecks of institutional capacity between social security institutions implementing the reform in Zambia, which focuses to provide social security to small-scale dairy farmers, a group of informal economy workers. Zambia's informal economy workers absorb over 80 per cent of the labour force. This is a qualitative study of institutional capacity in the extension of social security. Twenty-one interviews were conducted with participants from Farmers' Cooperatives (MCC), National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), and Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ). We selected participants through a purposive sampling technique. We reflected on data using a Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) built on thematic analysis. Analysis suggests that the institutions of the partnership are committed towards extending social security to informal economy workers. There was low involvement of local NAPSA officers in the project design and their role during implementation of the pension extension was unclear. This contributed to a lack of trust by some non-NAPSA members towards social security institutions. Knowledge and beliefs about the capabilities of implementers were essential in the activities for implementing the public policy on the extension of social security. However, there are several implementation lacunas concerning the process, its overarching infrastructure, and adequate human resources. There is a critical need to address gaps in process and procedures, equipment and materials, infrastructure, human resource, trust, and knowledge of context for the extension of social security to informal economy workers in Zambia. This could make the new public policy scheme more attainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the height of its power over everyday life, between 1968 and 1993, the Cuban Communist Party outlawed virtually all non-state labour and exchange. Since then, however, its continuity in power has increasingly depended on devolution: shifting responsibility for the provision of basic goods and services from failing state enterprises back to the self-employed. The latter now produce the majority of food and basic products; receive most of the national income from tourism, remittances and foreign investment; and generate most new jobs. Nevertheless, they subsist under a subaltern regime of fragile and conditional freedoms. The article adapts James Scott's consideration for the subaltern's 'hidden transcripts' and agencies to contemporary Cuba. It analyses the unavoidability of informal and illegal practices for daily subsistence; their naturalisation in society in contrast with their delegitimisation as opportunistic self-enrichment in party-controlled media; and how the self-employed resist such judgements in favour of more conciliatory civic visions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research provides empirical insights to reveal how value convergence occurs within Uber's sharing economy. Uber's business model is built on a digital platform that links private vehicle owners and their under-utilized assets to be economic revenue generating units for on-demand transport requests from potential clients. By analyzing adoption values for drivers and users of Uber, we identify antecedent operational and behavioral values for Uber adoption. We add to extant Industry 4.0 research and show value convergence emanating from economic and convenience motives. On the basis of our findings, we develop propositions for value convergence leveraging on cyber-physical systems embedded in Industry 4.0, and its application for theory and practice within the broader domains of the sharing economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We add to recent calls for more research on corporate corruption and argue that entrepreneurship researchers need to pay more attention to entrepreneurs who engage in entrepreneurial activities that corrode institutions and undermine the rule of law: what we call corrupt entrepreneurship. We conceptualise corrupt entrepreneurs as individuals who simultaneously act as traditional entrepreneurs seeking out and exploiting opportunities to profit from institutional voids; as institutional entrepreneurs involved in the creation and maintenance of the institutional voids that they profit from; and as cultural entrepreneurs that draw on various cultural resources to legitimate themselves in the communities in which they operate in order to maintain community support for their activities. As an example, we discuss the Sicilian Mafia and briefly describe how the existence of an institutional void played a central role in the formation of the Sicilian Mafia, how it continues to profit from institutional voids, what it does to maintain the voids it profits from, and how it legitimises itself in the local community by helping members of the community mitigate problems caused by the institutional voids that they are complicit in creating and maintaining in the first place. Building on this discussion, we highlight important future directions for research on corrupt entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we seek to understand the role of relationship marketing in achieving customer loyalty in Ghana's informal economy. The study further investigated the role of customer perceived value as a pass-through mechanism for the relationship between relationship marketing and customer loyalty. We collected primary data from 229 customers of informal economy operators in Accra. The data was then analyzed using structural equation modeling utilizing the STATA 15 Package. Our findings indicate that commitment is the only fundamental relationship marketing factor investigated that has a direct influence on customer loyalty in the informal business context. Trust and conflict handling on the other hand benefit significantly from the presence of customer perceived value whereas communication seems to have negligible effects. Consequently, scholars and marketing practitioners seeking to deploy the relationship marketing concept in the informal economy need to be aware of these contextual interplays and how they shape further discussions of the relationship marketing theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to public space for earning livelihoods is important for street vendors in global south cities. However, due to continuous population growth and the demand for lands by the real estate development sector, pressure on land is very high in the global south. Consequently, global south cities such as Dhaka provide 'no place' for its poor migrant citizens. Yet, the urban poor are able to appropriate public space for livelihoods. Drawing on a case study of Sattola slum in Dhaka, this article investigates how the urban poor access to public space for livelihoods and construct counter-spaces by breaking the planned order of the city. This article argues that the urban poor are able to construct counter-spaces with the tacit support of translocal social networks as well as with the support of a range of state and non-state powerful actors who are compromised by the benefits and profits they extract from vendors. This article draws on qualitative data generated through in-depth interviews with 94 informal workers and 37 key informants. This article contributes to urban sociology literature demonstrating that the urban poor are able to construct counter-spaces drawing on a range of everyday tactics and appropriating public space by quietly breaking the planned order of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the growing body of research on social assistance (SA) dynamics by analyzing patterns of SA receipt in China, a middle-income country with a large informal employment sector. Using national low-income household survey data and event history analysis, this study explored the mechanisms underlying exit from Dibao (formally known as Minimum Living Security) and changes in exit probability over time. We found that in the context of an informal economy, the 'explicit' change of individual characteristics and employment structure decisively affects receipt duration on the micro and macroeconomic levels, respectively. On the policy level, affected by the informal employment structure, employment services tend to be of low quality and fail to promote Dibao exit effectively. Although the specific Dibao payment strategy, which is used to address the difficulty in means tests, largely curbs the risks of declining working motivation, it considerably increases the possibility of prolonged Dibao use. With this systemic influence of informal employment, a unique pattern of SA receipt characterized by the combination of long-term use and a nondecreasing hazard rate has developed in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Ciencias Sociales (13159518) is the property of Revista de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad del Zulia Venezuela and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies the impact of remittance flows on the size of informal economies in post‐Soviet countries. We compile a unique data set from a cluster of transition economies and use panel data econometric models to estimate effect sizes. Identification comes from varying macroeconomic conditions in Russia, which are plausibly exogenous to currency demand in remittance–recipient countries. Our estimates indicate that, across our models, it seems plausible that around 25% of all remittances flow into the informal economies of the region. Since shadow economies facilitate numerous illegal activities (such as organised crime, informal money lenders and money laundering), stronger regulatory and institutional frameworks accompanied with provision of incentives for informal firms to be integrated in the formal economy are likely to curb undesirable economic behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use panel data containing all EU27 countries from the 2010 to 2022 period to investigate the impact exhibited by the shadow economy on the level of NPLs. Based on a Panel GMM approach we reveal a negative connection, indicating that Countries with larger informal sectors often exhibit lower reported NPLs, possibly due to less stringent oversight. Additionally, economic growth correlates negatively with NPLs, while rising unemployment is associated with increased NPL levels. However, factors like inflation, political stability, and government debt did not show significant correlations with NPLs in our analysis. The topic holds significant relevance for both macro-stability policymakers and commercial banks aiming to understand how changes in fiscal and budgetary conditions impact the quality of credit portfolios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The scholarship on informal domestic work remains heavily dominated by the marginalization discourse, describing this form of work as being an exploitative and abusive endeavour. In contrast, drawing on the relational work perspective from economic sociology, we conceive of informal domestic work as embedded in a relational infrastructure of social ties and reciprocal favours. In doing so, our article addresses the following overarching question: to what extent are the informal domestic work relations reciprocal instead of [or in addition to] being only exploitative and abusive? Drawing on in-depth interviews with 90 paid domestic workers and their employers, our findings reveal that while these domestic workers typically operate within the constrained opportunity structures, their work relations comprise a tacit sociological element of reciprocal benefits. However, we also conclude that by infusing these work relations with reciprocal elements, the domestic workers indeed gain something but also ultimately reinforce their unequal position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Innovar: Revista de Ciencias Administrativas y Sociales is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Migration shapes Sao Paulo's history. The labour demands of the sugar economy and, increasingly, the coffee economy soon exhausted the supply of local labour, replacing it with European immigrants, mainly Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, but including government-sponsored immigrants from Japan. Domestic immigrants from the Center of Brazil and from the North-East contributed to the city's diversity, but remained a minority of the population. Studies of urban poverty in Latin America show that though poverty is widespread, it is rarely homogeneous. In Sao Paulo, inequalities are evident in the contrasts of luxury mansions, guarded by gates and fences, and the sprawl of informally constructed housing. But different classes and ethnicities live in relative proximity to each other, with informal workers servicing the mansions of the wealthy and labourers working on the construction of modernist housing and transferring the skills they learn to improving their own informal dwellings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do cities foster political trust among informal workers? This question is particularly salient in Africa's growing cities where local governments must reconcile policy priorities across highly heterogeneous constituencies, including a burgeoning middle-class and a large informal economy. We argue that expectations about reciprocity and procedural justice shape the probability that informal traders trust their local government. In doing so, we analyse a survey of approximately 1000 informal traders in Ghana's three main cities – Accra, Kumasi and Tamale. We find that traders who paid requisite fees to local assemblies and could attribute a benefit from those payments were more likely to trust their local government while those who had experienced harassment by city authorities were less likely to do so. The paper highlights that drivers of trust among diverse urban constituencies deserve greater empirical and comparative attention, especially as countries deepen decentralisation initiatives and cities commit to development goals around inclusivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, Ghanaians adopted face masks, or "nose masks," in public places to combat the spread of a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Seamstresses and tailors quickly pivoted to manufacture nose masks by April, given the longstanding cottage sewing industry. While the country saw an influx of disposable face masks by the end of the year, cloth mask makers made a significant impact on public health at the start of the pandemic. This article considers how people were able to quickly popularize nose masks in 2020, noting the key role women seamstresses played alongside public leaders, the Ghana Standards Authority, and the police who used punitive punishments and coercive tactics to encourage sustained use as the pandemic continued. It marks one of the first studies on the history and cultural use of nose masks in an African country, comparing their use and adoption to other national mask responses, including those in the United States, Japan, and the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the public health system and socioeconomic sector, one of the worst being the impacts on the informal economy. Despite their past survival, the current pandemic-induced crisis has cast doubt on informal economy resilience. This study aims to capture the informal economy resilience facing the unprecedented economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. We reviewed 42 selected peer-reviewed journal articles to synthesise a general concept of informal economy resilience during pandemic-induced crisis. We found that strict lockdown during a pandemic becomes the main driver that exacerbates the vulnerability of informal economy. The impacts are spatiotemporally varied, different within the group, and have multilevel characteristics (from individual to society). This vulnerable condition has triggered the informal economy to conduct several coping mechanisms to face economic disadvantages. Both individual coping mechanisms and government intervention have altered the informal economy's resilience throughout time. The current combination of defense mechanisms results in four possibilities: bounce back better, bounce back, recover but worsen, and collapse. This review offers valuable insights into the appropriate actions that governments should undertake in response to economic downturns resulting from pandemics. It highlights the importance of considering vulnerable groups when formulating policy during a crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of EURE is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Charcoal is used in Africa for household energy, and the sector involves different actors with specific business strategies. Based on theories on sustainable business models and livelihoods, charcoal traders in five cities in Niger were surveyed about supply chains and strategies. Most charcoal is imported from Nigeria, and smaller quantities come from Benin and Burkina Faso or domestically. Men dominate the trade. Customers value charcoal quality, tree species, packaging, and low prices. Three groups of traders and their business models were identified: small-scale retailers, large-scale retailers, and wholesalers. The charcoal trade is typically combined with trade in other products and is frequently conducted with family members or friends; laborers are employed for loading and unloading. The charcoal business provides a complementary income for the traders' livelihoods. Most respondents believed that trade would increase in the future; wholesalers expected promising future business opportunities. This study concludes that improvements should focus on quality, better marketing skills, and more sustainable charcoal sourcing. Charcoal use in the Sahel region of Africa should also be studied further to enable the development of effective policies in the West African bioenergy sector. The cross-border charcoal trade creates a need for coordinated policies for a sustainable charcoal sector in the Sahel region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze informal economy and competitiveness after the 1979 Revolution in Iran with an emphasis on its eight metropolitan cities. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and data is collected from official resources and statistics. The analysis for data related to economic competitiveness was carried out using technique for order of reference by similarity to ideal solution, entropy, and numerical taxonomy. The results of this study suggest that state modernism has been effective in the growth of urbanization and the decline of urbanization, which has changed Iranians' life patterns from rural to urban in the wake of the 1979 Revolution. There is also a direct relationship between rural–urban migration and informal economic growth in the process of urbanization and urbanization in Iran. The informal economy sector, which accounts for 31% of Iran's economy, ranks 30th in the world. The survey of informal economy in Iranian metropolises shows that 35% of its metropolises' GDP comes from the informal economy. The results illustrate the imbalanced employment situation in these metropolises. The highest rate of female and male employees was recorded in Mashhad (81.16 and 90.55) and the lowest in Ahvaz (64.38 and 77.00), respectively. The majority of industrial workers lived in Qom (35.61), and the lowest number of industrial workers was in Mashhad (14.09). Also, the highest number of service workers was in Shiraz (78.40) and the lowest in Qom (54.34). Most of the agricultural labor force lived in Ahwaz (2.74) with Tehran hosting the lowest number of agricultural workers (0.98). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal employment in tourism is an important component of urban economies. A mixed-method approach using a questionnaire survey combined with in-depth interviews was used to analyze urban resident perceptions and attitudes toward tourism informal employment in Beijing, while considering the residents as both hosts and consumers. The results showed that: (1) resident perceptions toward tourism informal entrepreneurs are positive and negative, and the latter is comparatively stronger. (2) Favorable evaluations positively influence retention willingness and regulate management willingness. (3) Negative evaluations negatively influence retention willingness whist positively influencing regulative management willingness. (4) Retention willingness negatively influences regulative management willingness. (5) Consumption experience moderates the relationship between retention willingness and regulative management willingness. This study extends the theoretical research on informal employment and informs decision-making for effective city management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the informal economy and agricultural productivity in Bangladesh over a 25-year period from 1993 to 2018. While the impact of the black market on the economy is a well-studied topic, its implications for the agricultural sector in this specific country context was less explored. By controlling structural transformation, trade, and foreign direct investment (FDI) in agriculture, the authors employ autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) using Kripfganz and Schneider's (2018) approximations, as well as fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and feasible generalized least square (FGLS) techniques. The results reveal that informality initially hampers agricultural productivity in the short term due to reduced government revenue, but in the long run, it acts as an active social protection system, fostering informal employment and providing essential amenities. Although the study's time span limits the investigation to this specific period, it serves as a crucial attempt to assess the impact of informality on agriculture in Bangladesh, highlighting the need for cautious consideration of both the benefits and drawbacks of the informal sector in enhancing agricultural productivity. Policymakers in Bangladesh should act cautiously, acknowledging the nuances of the informal sector's influence on agriculture to leverage its potential for sustainable economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of social networks in setting-up and running a business is well established in the literature. Experts on informality have concluded that with the development of a country, the informal sector will increasingly turn formal. However, evidence from this study indicates otherwise. This study looks at Surat in India which is one of the largest textile producing cities internationally. The industrial district has numerous informal establishments that form a part of the crucial ecosystem, working in cohesion with the more established 'formal' firms. The study examines the roles that social networks play in sustaining the textile industry. The research infers that social networks are crucial to run a business in the Surat textile market as all transactions take place through informal contracts, which are grounded on trust-based 'references', thereby making a strong network structure a key requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research presents the informal economy as a fading phenomenon mainly confined to the peripheries of mainstream economics. However, such views overlook its transformative effect on the social and economic spheres of many regions of the developing world through employment creation. Drawing from a new dataset combining World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Africa Index databases, this study examines the effect of country-level variables (informal economy size, economic and sustainable development) on economic and social change in twenty sub-Saharan African nations. Results reveal that informal work and informal business sustain livelihoods by providing income that helps tackle poverty, malnutrition and mortality rates. This has implications for academic research and policy making because it induces debate on the need to balance economic and social change with policy initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article constitutes an empirical contribution regarding the correlation between economic informality and the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru. Based on interviews with merchants in the informal sector of the city of Huancayo, the pandemic-related impacts are analyzed in relation to income and livelihoods. It is argued that informal employment played an important role in the tragic indicators of public health in the country. The intrinsic flexibility of this type of activities, specifically for walking merchants, and the lack of access to systems and programs of social security were the main reasons that people worked in this sector to replace the income they lost due to confinement. Thus, the notion “replacement of income” in the economy appeared during the pandemic. The heterogeneity among those who carry out informal work, specifically in terms of their access to different resources, enabled such work and enabled some people to control their exposure to the virus. It is concluded that the focus on economic formalization of the last decades of financial liberalization are not considered advantages that informal activities offer in relation to formalization. In fact, informality continues to offer the best opportunity for immediate income and highly flexible options, in particular for adapting to crisis situations like the pandemic.

This study investigates the relationship between street trading and urban planning in Enugu City, Nigeria, within the expanding informal economy of the global South. It particularly focuses on the perspectives of urban planners regarding the impacts and management of street trading. The research employed a mixed-method approach, including personal observation, questionnaires, and in-depth interviews, analyzed through basic statistical methods. Findings reveal that urban planners recognize the socio-economic importance and cultural relevance of street trading, despite its negative spatial externalities. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, planners favour negotiated solutions over forced evictions. This study highlights the need for inclusive urban planning practices that accommodate the socio-economic benefits of street trading while addressing its challenges, contributing to the discourse on sustainable urban development.

The current study seeks to explore the vulnerabilities typically encountered by female migrants in the informal sector in Dhaka city. It used a qualitative research approach, purposively selecting four areas from Dhaka city. Twenty-five semi-structured in-depth interviews during eight months of participant observation were conducted to accomplish the study objective. The authors used the capability approach theory to elucidate the phenomenon of vulnerability experienced by female migrants in the informal sector. The thematic data analyses were performed using the Granheim approach and NVivo 12 software. The findings of this study suggest that migrant women who work on the street face a number of significant challenges. These challenges include sexual assault and harassment, social stigma and cultural barriers, financial obstacles, and extortion and bribery. The authors recommend that governments provide access to state credits, social security, health insurance, and other forms of social protection for informal sector workers. The finding revealed that informal workers are often excluded from these essential benefits, making it difficult for such workers to expand their businesses or have a safety net in case of illness, unemployment, or other shocks.

Copyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article argues that the gig economy is an exploitative extension of the informal economy. With its decentralised promise of individual entrepreneurship, I will argue that it places undue burdens on the worker as an 'independent contractor' that would otherwise be upheld by the employer. I will do so by applying a Marcusian analysis of the gig economy, highlighting two primary concerns. First, Marcuse's critique of 'industrial rationality' explains how industrial rationality creates the framework for - and justification of - exploitation within the gig economy. Second, as Wendy Brown notes, following Marcuse, the gig economy promotes the neoliberal notion of 'self-care' as a means of absolving corporations from any duty towards their employees. More specifically, 'self-care' within the gig economy forms part of the exploitation of workers within the informal economy which is often viewed as a buffer to absorb the unemployed within a neoliberal society. Building on this critique, I refer to the work of Byung-Chul Han and his concept of 'self-exploitation,' arguing that the gig economy should be considered an extension of an informal economy, in which workers are left in a perpetual state of servitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home-based work is among the largest forms of employment in the informal economy in India and is overwhelmingly represented by women. Employing a social reproduction framework that reframes what is counted as labor, this article asks how women's unpaid work activities are appropriated as labor in subcontracted home-based work. Applying this analytical framework, it becomes clear that domestic work in the home, often completed by women, is needed and exploited in this production process as a result of gendered constructs of care. The contribution considers how unpaid work is directly appropriated by capital as surplus value. The context of informal work is key here because of the irregular and fragmented production process, the space where work occurs, and the use of unpaid family workers. The goal of this research is to offer empirical evidence that broadens analytical perspectives to account for the context of informality in the Global South. HIGHLIGHTS Subcontracted home-based work in India relies on a gendered, fragmented, and precarious labor force. Unpaid caregiving and household work directly contributes to profit-making. Western analytical concepts of the economy need to be reexamined in the context of the postcolonial informal economies. Research tools that measure economic participation need to capture how unpaid activities directly or indirectly contribute to economic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of the labor market challenges generated by an aging society is currently one of the central subjects of international academic literature. Previous research mostly analyzed the labor market participation of people aged between 55 and 65. However, as the raising of the retirement age is on the agenda in several European countries, the ability and willingness of the 65+ age group to work has become a key issue. Our questionnaire survey conducted in Hajdú-Bihar county, North-Eastern Hungary (N = 2,625, multistage probability sample) focused on this age group, which has received relatively little attention in research with respect to their labor market status. It investigated participation in the formal and informal labor market, the time management of the 65+ age group, and the factors that determine their willingness to work. Our analysis revealed that only a rather small proportion (2.7%) of the investigated age group is engaged in the formal economy, and the vast majority (93%) is not engaged in any gainful activity even in the informal economy. However, in 68.7% of the sample we can identify certain activities that aim to reduce expenses and can be clearly considered as work. Thus the members of the Silver Generation are working to a considerably higher degree than official employment statistics show. The primary obstacle for open labor market involvement is not age but rather education level and health status. According to our research, the level of employment of the 65+ age group is highly affected by the lack of pressing financial need and also by ageism. A total of 99.2% of the respondents possess transfer incomes that cover their living expenses, so in their case there is no financial constraint forcing them to return to the open labor market. At the same time, certain widespread stereotypes about the work involvement of older people are also strongly present among members of the 65+ age group (internalized ageism) and significantly reduce their motivation to participate in employment in the formal economy even among those members of the age group who are still fit for work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Panorama Económico is the property of Universidad de Cartagena and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)