Technology, Social Innovation, and the Informal Economy

Jonathan Gershuny

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1987, vol. 493, issue 1, 47-63

Abstract: Unpaid work in the home is an important contributor to national wealth: very nearly half of all work in a modern economy takes place outside the formal economy. A major effect of new technology is to increase the extent of informal production through the development of new productive equipment for installation in private households. Domestic production becomes more efficient, and the pattern of demand for commodities from the formal economy is changed: we buy goods rather than services. This article uses evidence about historical changes in the patterns of use of time, from a number of different developed countries, to investigate the effect of technical change on the relationship between the formal and informal economies.

Date: 1987
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:493:y:1987:i:1:p:47-63

DOI: 10.1177/0002716287493001005

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