Perspectives on the Informal Economy

This collection of current research in the field of economic anthropology grew out of a conference held in April of 1989. The papers included here investigate and analyze the informal economy, that is, those activities that have economic consequences but have been ignored or missed by economists and governing officials. Contents: Introduction: 'A Million Here, A Million There, and Pretty Soon You're Talking Real Money,' by M. Estellie Smith; The Informal Sector in Comparative Perspective, Bryan Roberts; The Informal Economy and the State in Tanzania, Aili Mari Tripp; Informal Sector Housing: Social Structure and the State in Brazil, William P. Norris; Macrotheories, Microcontexts, and the Informal Sector; Case Studies of Self-Employment in Three Brazilian Cities, Leo A. Despres; Popular Religion, Patronage, and Resource Distribution in Brazil: A Model of an Hypothesis for the Survival of the Economically Marginal, Sidney M. Greenfield and Russell R. Prust; Crisis and Sector in Oaxaca, Mexico: A Comparison of Households 1977-87, Arthur D. Murphy and Martha W. Rees; The Need for a Reevaluation of the Concept 'Informal Sector': The Dominican Case, Martin F. Murphy; Community Growth Versus Simply Surviving; The Informal Sectors of Cubans and Haitians in Miami, Alex Stepick; Economic Crisis and the Informal Street Market System of Spain, Anthony Oliver-Smith; Black Markets and Welfare in Scandinavia; Some Methodological and Empirical Issues, Gunnar Viby Mogensen; Self-Employment vs. Wage Employment in Hong Kong: A Reconsideration of the Urban Informal Economy, Josephine Smart; Hidden Dimensions of the Burmese Way to Socialism, Nicola Tannenbaum and E. Paul Durrenberger; Bundles of Assets in Exchanges: Integrating the Formal and Informal in Canal Irrigation, Robert C. Hunt; A Cross-Cultural Treatment of the Informal Economy, Rhoda H. Halperin and Sara Sturdevant; Index.