'A charitable indulgence: street stalls and the transformation of public space in Melbourne 1859-1920'
Urban History 23, 1 (1995): 48-71.
Winner, H.J. Dyos Prize for best article in Urban History.
The automobile is often misconstrued as being exclusively responsible for the decline of traditional street culture.... more The automobile is often misconstrued as being exclusively responsible for the decline of traditional street culture. This paper argues that the marginalisation of street vendors may also be related to developing definitions of the street as the locus of respectability, unobstructed circulation, nationalism and civic pride. Street entrepreneurs of the 1850s became urban nuisances by the 1900s, associated more with obstruction and underservedness as with convenience and enterprise. Licensing records of bootblacks and coffee-stall keepers as objects of municipal benevolence reveal their economic and social roles in the micro-geography of the city. While nostalgia can distort the realities of historical and contemporary public spaces, the street evacuated of social density and diversity is one of the great losses of modern urban life.
Drinking with Vova: SME in Ukraine between informality and illegality
by Abel Polese
This is going to be a chapter in a collection Jeremy Morris and myself are editing on informal economic practices in post-socialism
This chapter is intended to illustrate practices on the boundary between legality and illegality in order
to shed... more
This chapter is intended to illustrate practices on the boundary between legality and illegality in order
to shed a different light on some of those engaging in diverse transactions. Challenging the vision of a "culture of corruption" (Miller et al 2001) and that “no discount” should be applied to corrupt practices (Papava and Khaduri 2001), the starting question of this chapter is: what makes a practice “corrupt” or
illegal? In this respect I suggest the need to contextualise and de-normativise illegal practices, since they depend on both social and legal norms. From a juridical standpoint a law is a law, but the value and applicability of a law is ultimately decided by people in social practice. What if there is a law and
the state is unable to enforce control or punish anyone because a substantial number of citizens do not follow it? There is a growing body of literature challenging the very significance of a written law in a context where other rules may apply. For instance, Wanner has remarked how a new moral order may
be applied to some spheres of Ukrainian life where the state’s protection is felt to be lacking. How illegal or immoral is it to try to bribe a court if the same court is issuing an order on the basis of false evidence produced against you? (Wanner 2005)
The present chapter raises questions about the validity of international reports and policy analysis on Ukraine, and possibly on the rest of the former Soviet world, that see illegal practices only as a social evil to eradicate. This is the position of a number of strands of developmentalist thought which
uncritically reject possible alternatives (Nederveen Pieterse 2006), positing that it is only a matter of time before transitional countries will adopt a functioning neoliberal model. In contrast to this, it has been argued that that monetary transactions do not encompass or explain economic activity – this is evident from the work of the growing school of diverse economies (Community Economies Collective 2001, Gibson Graham 1996, 2008). In addition, economic effectiveness might not mean the end of non-market oriented transactions (Williams 2005), which may also serve to partially challenge the de-personalisation of power relations in the labour market and the separation between the social and economic sphere predicted by Polanyi (1946, see also Hann and Hart 2009). Empirical evidence has showed that ‘success’ may also be measured by satisfaction of spiritual obligations, being active in social life (Pardo 1996) and that even the meaning of money differs depending on the social and
economic norms of a society (Parry and Bloch 1989).
Download (.pdf) Counting Shadows Measuring the size of the Informal Economy in Newham
by Amila S. Wilegoda-Wickramage
Wilegoda-Wickramage AS, Neale E.
Measurement of the informal economy in the UK to date has been based on macro level analysis of expenditure and... more
Measurement of the informal economy in the UK to date has been based on macro level analysis of expenditure and income. Measurement of the informal economy at a micro economic level in this way has only ever been attempted on a ward level in three locations across England, not including any London Boroughs. Community Links, an innovative inner city charity running community-based projects in east London has been the first to measure the size of informal economic activity, of the overall
workforce (age 16-64), at a borough level in the UK. The sampling frame used borough Super Output Areas (SOA) (groups of 1,000 households) taking its sample from every one of the 190 SOAs in the borough. Working with these divisions enabled comparative analyses across a range of official statistics.
The research produced was a descriptive, cross sectional study, using a ‘random sample at super output area level’. Its primary aim was to describe the extent: that is the size, the monetary value, and the longevity of people’s stay in the informal economy. The secondary aim was to determine if there is a statistical relationship between characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, income level and accommodation cost and being in the informal economy. This paper described the research method in theory and in practice.
Pawning for Financing Health Expenditures: Do Health Shocks Increase the Probability of Losing the Pledge?
by Jayant Anand
Published in Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume 26, 2008
Evidence from developed countries shows debt and bankruptcy to be correlated with medical expenditures. In Mexico, the... more Evidence from developed countries shows debt and bankruptcy to be correlated with medical expenditures. In Mexico, the formal financial sector does not lend for health needs. So, the solution is often found by borrowing from relatives, friends, and moneylenders, or pawning belongings after using savings, if any. Despite the recent and growing literature on income and health, and health financing, we have not come across a single study analyzing pawning and health. Our study fills this gap using a sample of 400 government owned pawnshop users from Puebla, Mexico. The findings from the study revealed that health expenditures are a significant reason for pawning and having medical insurance does not reduce the probability to pawn. Also, catastrophic health expenditures are correlated with a higher probability of not redeeming the pledge. We found that most pawnshop users have low income and losing a pledge is positively correlated with low or middle income and the number of people in the household.
Health Expenditure Financing as Incentive for Participation in ROSCAs
by Jayant Anand
Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (roscas) are a common informal saving method recognized as a social... more Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (roscas) are a common informal saving method recognized as a social protection system that can be used to deal with the monetary consequences of different types of economic shocks. This paper tests the hypothesis that current participation in roscas will be encouraged when funds saved during previous membership in such associations were useful for financing extraordinary as well as unexpected expenses related to health needs. The probit model estimation supports this hypothesis and also suggests that savings from roscas used for preventive health services encourage further participation.
Rational vs. Heuristic Motives: What Matters When Redeeming the Pledge?
by Jayant Anand
Pawnbroking belongs to the secured loan market and in Mexico almost 90% of items pledged are personal or family... more Pawnbroking belongs to the secured loan market and in Mexico almost 90% of items pledged are personal or family jewels. The valuation of the collateral may differ between the parties involved in the pawn contract because the borrower, besides the economic value, may feel some attachment to the pledge entailing an affective value, but the loan is a function of only the economic value of the pledge. In this paper we test the hypothesis that if the emotions evoked by the pledge guide individual behavior, then the heuristic aspect, but not the rational motive, should be associated with higher likelihood of redeeming it. Besides showing that economic variables are related to the outcome of the pawning process, our model estimations confirm our hypothesis.
ROSCAs as a health prevention financing mechanism
by Jayant Anand
The Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA) is an informal savings method that has important social protection... more The Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA) is an informal savings method that has important social protection features. Even though the literature considers ROSCAs as a mitigation risk mechanism, households could spend accumulated savings for diseases prevention. This paper examines whether the likelihood of householdRs high health expenditures decreases when funds allocated in savings clubs are used for health protection. We found that funds saved in ROSCA are used to finance health expenditures but those that have been spent for preventing diseases are not related to high health expenditures. Our findings corroborate the extant literature by confirming that ROSCAs are a shock mitigation mechanism.
Collateral ownership and women’s participation in informal finance schemes
by Jayant Anand
The literature on informal finance provides ample evidence on the importance of informal financial intermediaries for... more The literature on informal finance provides ample evidence on the importance of informal financial intermediaries for women. Our study extends research in this area by exploringhow gender-asset-ownership is related to women’s participation in informal finance schemes. Using a random sample of 250 women from Puebla, Mexico, our probit modelestimates revealed that younger women with intermediate level of education are more likelyto access the informal finance sector. Model estimates also suggest that women who ownbusinesses are more likely to use informal finance. Finally, women are more likely to resort to these schemes when their husbands/partner own assets, but not when they own the assetsthemselves.
From market hegemony to diverse economies: evaluating the plurality of albour practices in Ukraine
Journal of Economy and its Applications
Drawing inspiration from a burgeoning corpus of scholars who have begun to question the narrative of impending market... more
Drawing inspiration from a burgeoning corpus of scholars who have begun to question the narrative of impending market hegemony, this paper seeks to further advance this
emergent ‘diverse economies’ literature by constructing a conceptual framework for representing the multiple labour practices in economies. Transcending the simplistic
market/non-market dichotomy, this conceptualises multiple kinds of labour existing along a spectrum from market-oriented to non-market oriented practices, which is cross-cut by
another spectrum ranging from wholly monetised to wholly non-monetised practices. The resultant portrayal of a plurality of labour practices that seamlessly merge into each other
is then applied to understanding the types of labour used in Ukraine. Analysing the results of 600 interviews conducted across various populations reveals not only the shallow
permeation of the formal market economy in this society that has been supposedly undergoing a ‘transition’ to the market but also the existence of diverse work cultures across different populations along with marked socio-spatial variations in the nature of individual labour practices. The outcome is a call for a re-reading of the organisation of labour in Ukraine and the wider application of this conceptual lens that captures the proliferative nature of labour practices in economies.
Evaluating the participation of students in the informal economy: some evidence from a European survey
Colin C. Williams*, Sara Nadin*, Peter Rodgers*, Rob Wapshott*, Jan Windebank**,
Nick Williams* and Tim Vorley
Despite the widespread assumption that informal employment is more prevalent amongst those not in the formal labour... more
Despite the widespread assumption that informal employment is more prevalent amongst those not in the formal labour market, there have been no evaluations of the extent and nature
of informal employment amongst the student population, who are in most nations a prominent group of those not in formal employment. This paper fills that gap. To do this, a
2007 Eurobarometer survey on informal employment comprising 26,659 face-to-face interviews conducted in the 27 member states of the European Union is reported, which includes interviews with 2,605 students aged 15 or over. The finding is that 1 in 11 (9 percent) of the student population surveyed had participated in informal employment in the previous year, although the propensity to do so varies significantly spatially. Analysing whether they engage in informal employment out of choice or necessity, the finding is that the ratio of involuntary-to-voluntary participation varies both spatially and according to the
type of employer for whom they work. Identifying that students comprise 19 percent of the informal workforce in the European union, this survey concludes that greater attention needs
to be paid to this group and why they do so if the informal economy is to be effectively tackled.
Theorizing the self-service economy: a case study of do-it-yourself (DIY) activity
Kwame Yeboah-Korang Adom, Marijana Baric, Usman Ladan,
Olga Onoshchenko, Abdoulie Sallah, Muhammad Shehryar Shahid and Richard White
Published in Journal of Economy and its Applicatons
Recently, it has become increasingly recognised that self-servicing is a growing rather than declining phenomenon. To... more
Recently, it has become increasingly recognised that self-servicing is a growing rather than declining phenomenon. To explain this, a range of competing theories have emerged which
variously portray those engaged in self-servicing either as rational economic actors, dupes, seekers of self-identity, or simply doing so out of necessity or choice. This paper evaluates
critically the validity of these rival explanations. To do this, the extent of, and reasons for, self-servicing in the domestic realm is empirically evaluated through an internet survey of 5,500 people living in the city of Sheffield in England. This resulted in 418 valid responses (a 7.6 per cent response rate). The finding is that three-quarters of all domestic tasks surveyed were last conducted on a self-servicing basis. Turning to why self-servicing is used, the finding is that all the previous theorisations are valid to differing degrees, and through a process of induction, a theoretically-integrative typology is offered which combines the existing theorisations by differentiating between various ‘willing’ (rational economic actors, choice, identity seeking) and ‘reluctant’ (economic and market necessity, Dupes, participants in the self-service economy. The outcome is a call for further research on the wider applicability of using this typology to explain self-servicing across other retail and distribution activities (e.g., food retailing, organising travel and holidays) is now required.
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El comercio en la vía pública y el imaginario social en resistencia. El caso del tianguis de la Bola
by Carlos León
Artículo en:
El Cotidiano, Vol. 25, Núm. 159, enero-febrero, 2010, pp. 93-100. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Azcapotzalco. México.
Presentamos algunas reflexiones sobre el comercio popular en la vía pública, retomando el punto de vista de los... more Presentamos algunas reflexiones sobre el comercio popular en la vía pública, retomando el punto de vista de los sujetos que intervienen en los intercambios mercantiles. Nuestro interés es analizar las prácticas sociales concretas que tienen lugar en el tianguis, pero también comprender cómo son investidas de un sentido de legitimidad, según las concepciones –formuladas colectivamente en los ámbitos de interacción social– que articulan los significados dominantes para los intercambios mercantiles con las atribuciones de sentido que se oponen o resisten al orden social impuesto como algo natural e irrevocable.
Informal sector trade in Uzbekistan, Working Paper, 1997
also in: Informal Sector Trade in Uzbekistan, in: Journal of Central Asian Studies, Vol. II, No. 2, 1998, pp. 2-19
Traders as Transformers
in: Raj Kollmorgen (ed.):
Transformation als Typ sozialen Wandel. Postsozialistische Lektionen,
historische und interkulturelle Vergleiche, Münster, Hamburg, und
London: LIT Verlag, 2005, pp. 191-214
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Espaces & sociétés: appel à articles "Espaces notoires de trafic"
La revue accepte les soumissions en français, anglais, espagnol, portugais, italien et allemand ; dans le cas où un article original dans une autre langue serait accepté pour publication, il reviendra à l'auteur de fournir une version française.
Des lieux sont connus pour être les espaces de « trafics », c'est-à-dire d’échanges qui requièrent la discrétion du... more
Des lieux sont connus pour être les espaces de « trafics », c'est-à-dire d’échanges qui requièrent la discrétion du fait de leur caractère illégal ou parce que ces trafics impliquent une déviation ou de « petits arrangements » par rapport à une norme sociale de référence.
Ce type d'espace semble donc caractérisé par une ambivalence fondamentale entre sa nécessaire « notoriété », dans la mesure où les clients doivent pouvoir en connaître l'existence et s'y rendre et sa non moins nécessaire « invisibilité », afin que le trafic puisse se dérouler dans une relative tranquillité.
Les articles de ce dossier pourront porter sur différentes parties du monde et sur tous les types de trafic : drogue, argent, armes, cigarettes, produits piratés mais aussi êtres humains ou organes... Nous recherchons des contributions qui porteront sur l’identification, la création, le fonctionnement et les implications de ces espaces notoires de trafic.
