Research Handbook on Development and the Informal Economy

Edited by Jacques Charmes, Emeritus Researcher, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre Population et Développement (Ceped), University Paris Descartes, France

'Jacques Charmes and Edward Elgar Publishing are to be warmly congratulated for this Handbook, which reflects on 50 years of academic discussion on the informal economy, and offers us new insights and inspiration for the next 50 years of such work.'--Simon McGrath, University of Nottingham, UK'This Research Handbook on Development and the Informal Economy is a landmark volume offering a uniquely comprehensive overview of the informal economy across the global landscape. Expertly edited by Jacques Charmes, the volume is international in coverage and exhaustive in scope. Bringing together a global roster of authors and many of the leading authorities on the subject, the individual chapters address the multi-faceted dimensions in an expert manner, and collectively cover all the important issues arising from the persistence of the informal economy globally. It is a timely and authoritative Handbook, offering cutting-edge analysis and reflection, and is an essential read for students, academics and practitioners.'--Colin C. Williams, University of Sheffield, UK

• Contents:1 Why and how should the informal economy be revisited after50 years? 1Jacques CharmesPART I CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS, METHODS OFMEASUREMENT AND ESTIMATION, MAGNITUDEAND CHARACTERISTICS, AND GLOBALCONCEPTION OF STRATEGIES2 The success story of a loose but useful concept: origins,development, magnitude and trends of the informal economy 19Jacques Charmes3 The Non-Observed Economy vs. the Shadow Economy inthe European Union: concepts, measurements methods andestimates revisited 45Philippe Adair4 Informality and development in Africa 79Dorothy McCormick, Erick Manga, Radha Upadhyaya,Paul Kamau, Herbert Wamalwa and Samuel Ngigi5 Facing informal economy practices and institutions:the challenge of formalisation policies in Africa 116Frédéric Lapeyre PART II RECONSIDERING THE MARGINS ANDFRONTIERS OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY6 Informal employment and non-market work 147Nancy Folbre7 Assessing the figures of sex work throughout non-transitionand transition European countries: magnitude, premium onearnings and informal employment 168Philippe Adair and Oksana Nezhyvenko8 Kinship groups and informal trade in West and Central Africa 210Stephen S. Golub and Mirayda MartinezPART III GIVING VISIBILITY AND VOICE TO THE MOSTVULNERABLE: OBSERVING, PARTICIPATING,SUPPORTING AND ORGANISING9 Street vendors in Tunisia: encountering the informal economy 240Laurence Michalak10 Formalisation from the ground: the case of waste pickers’cooperatives 263Sonia Maria Dias and Lucía Fernández11 Collective bargaining by informal workers in the global South:where and how it takes place 285Françoise Carré, Pat Horn and Chris Bonner12 Knowledge co-production with and for organisations ofinformal workers: building democratic capacity for socialchange 317Ana Carolina Ogando and Jenna HarveyPART IV SKILLS, INNOVATION AND IMPACT OFTECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN THEINFORMAL ECONOMY13 Skills development and the informal sector: a review of reportsand commitments of the international institutions 347Kenneth King14 Informality and innovation: an avenue towards bottom-upindustrialisation for Africa? 363Erika Kraemer-Mbula and Lorenza Monaco15 Innovation in refugee economies: supporting intermediariesthat embrace informality 387Jeremy de Beer and Nicole Tumaine16 Women in the informal economy and the impact oftechnological change 410Jacques Charmes Index 435