The Political Economy of Informal Economies

Stuart Henry

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1987, vol. 493, issue 1, 137-153

Abstract: This article considers the mutual interrelationship between informal economies and the wider political economy of capitalism. Four dimensions are discussed: (1) the generation of informal economies as a paradoxical outcome of distinguishing them from capitalism; (2) the support given by capitalism and reciprocated by informal economies that enables each to gain strength from their similarities; (3) the opposition to informal economies that is reflected back on the wider economy; and (4) the destruction capitalism inflicts as it attempts to colonize and co-opt informal economies and the simultaneous transformation of capitalism that occurs with their absorption into the wider structure. The article argues that as a result of these complex interrelations, the development of, and intervention in, informal economies is neither simple nor linear. Failure to take these relations into account can lead to policy and its implementation that produce many unforeseen outcomes.

Date: 1987
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716287493001010 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:493:y:1987:i:1:p:137-153

DOI: 10.1177/0002716287493001010

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().