The Informal Economy Revisited
Examining the Past, Envisioning the Future
Routledge Explorations in Development Studies Series

This landmark volume brings together leading scholars in the field to investigate recent conceptual shifts, research findings and policy debates on the informal economy as well as future challenges and directions for research and policy. Well over half of the global workforce and the vast majority of the workforce in developing countries work in the informal economy, and in countries around the world new forms of informal employment are emerging. Yet the informal workforce is not well understood, remains undervalued and is widely stigmatised.

Contributors to the volume bridge a range of disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, development economics, law, political science, social policy, sociology, statistics, urban planning and design. The Informal Economy Revisited also focuses on specific groups of informal workers, including home-based workers, street vendors and waste pickers, to provide a grounded insight into disciplinary debates. Ultimately, the book calls for a paradigm shift in how the informal economy is perceived to reflect the realities of informal work in the Global South, as well as the informal practices of the state and capital, not just labour.

The Informal Economy Revisited is the culmination of 20 years of pioneering work by WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), a global network of researchers, development practitioners and organisations of informal workers in 90 countries. Researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and advocates will all find this book an invaluable guide to the significance and complexities of the informal economy, and its role in today?s globalised economy.

The Open Access version of this book, available at

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429200724, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

INTRODUCTION – Martha Chen and Françoise Carré PART 1 – THE INFORMAL ECONOMY REVISITED 1. Informality: The Bane of the Labouring Poor under Globalized Capitalism – Jan Breman 2. India’s Informal Economy: Past, Present and Future – Barbara Harriss-White PART 2 – INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: ADVANCES IN STATISTICS AND RESEARCH 3. Informal Employment: Advances in Statistics and WlEGO’s Contribution – Joann Vanek 4. Informal Employment in Developed Countries: Relevance and Statistical Measurement – Françoise Carré 5. The Measurement of Informal Employment in Mexico – Rodrigo Negrete 6. WIEGO Research on Informal Employment: Key Methods, Variables and Findings – Martha Chen PART 3 – ECONOMICS AND THE INFORMAL ECONOMY 7. Assessing Taxation and Informality: Disaggregated Frameworks Matter – Ravi Kanbur 8. Informality and the Dynamics of the Structure of Employment – James Heintz 9. Old and New Forms of Informal Employment – Uma Rani 10. Tax and the Informal Economy: Lessons from South Africa – Imraan Valodia and David Francis 11. (Re)conceptualizing Poverty and Informal Employment – Michael Rogan and Paul Cichello PART 4 – LABOUR LAW AND THE INFORMAL ECONOMY 12. Revising Labour Law for Work – Judy Fudge 13. Domestic Workers and Informality: Challenging Invisibility, Regulating Inclusion – Adelle Blackett 14. Enforcement of Labour Standards in Developing Countries: Challenges and Solutions – Michael J. Piore PART 5 - URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN: INCLUDING INFORMAL LIVELIHOODS 15. The Informal Economy in Urban Africa: Challenging Planning Theory and Praxis – Caroline Skinner and Vanessa Watson 16. Urban Design: Imaginations beyond Architecture – Rahul Mehrotra 17. Informality, Housing and Work: The View from Indian Cities – Gautam Bhan PART 6 – HOMEWORKERS: EXTENDING LABOUR RIGHTS IN GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS 18. Regulating Corporations in Global Value Chains to Realize Labour Rights for Homeworkers – Marlese von Broembsen 19. Extending Labour Standards to Informal Workers at the Base of Global Garment Value Chains: New Institutions in the Labour Market – Meenu Tewari PART 7 - STREET VENDORS: POLITICS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR INCLUSION 20. Street Vendors and Planning Paradigms – Amin Y. Kamete 21. Street Vending and the State: Challenging Theory, Changing Research – Veronica Crossa 22. Street Vendors and Regulations – Sally Roever PART 8 - WASTE PICKERS: INTEGRATION AND RIGHTS IN PUBLIC WASTE MANAGEMENT 23. Waste Pickers and Their Right to the City: Dispossession and Displacement in 19th Century Paris and Contemporary Montevideo – Lucía Fernandez 24. Managing Urban Waste as a Common Pool Resource – Jérémie Cavé 25. The Political Work of Waste Picker Integration – Melanie Samson PART 9 – SOCIAL POLICY AND INFORMAL WORKERS 26. The Place of Informal Workers in Different Approaches to Social Protection – Francie Lund 27. Social Protection and Informal Workers: Rethinking the Terms of Inclusion – Laura Alfers 28. Social Protection for Women Informal Workers: Perspectives from Latin America – Silke Staab 29. Informal Workers in a Context of Urbanisation and Migration: Reflections from China for Social Policy in Asia – Sarah Cook 30. Realising Employer Liability for Workers in Informal Employment: Lessons from India – Kamala Sankaran PART 10 – INFORMAL WORKERS AND THE STATE 31. Deciphering African Informal Economies – Kate Meagher 32. Informal Workers and the State in India – Rina Agarwala 33. Informal Domestic Workers, Informal Construction Workers and the State: What Prospects for Improving Labour Standards? – Chris Tilly 34. Waste and Citizenship Forum: Waste Pickers and the State in Brazil – Sonia Dias CONCLUSION – Martha Chen, Françoise Carré and Sally Roever Bibliography

Martha Chen is aLecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, USA, and Co-Founder, Emeritus International Coordinator and Senior Advisor of WIEGO.

Françoise Carré is Research Director, Center for Social Policy, University of Massachusetts Boston, McCormack Graduate School, Boston, USA, and Director, WIEGO Statistics Programme.