Skip to main content

Mixed Perceptions of State Responsibility Among Informal Sector Participants in MENA

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Informality, Labour Mobility and Precariousness

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

Informality is growingly accepted to be an encompassing concept touching on all aspects of societies and how they are governed, which goes well beyond the contours of economic transactions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Informal economic activities and informal sector are used interchangeably throughout the chapter.

  2. 2.

    These countries are Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen.

  3. 3.

    A detailed description of the survey is presented in Sect. 3.

  4. 4.

    The data is cross sectional, and, in this study, the most recent available year is used. To my knowledge there is no panel data at the international level that covers informal sector participants.

  5. 5.

    The results are not presented for the reasons of brevity but can be asked from the author.

  6. 6.

    The lack of association can be due to the poor measurement of informal employment, yet the results are robust to the inclusion of self-employed in the operationalization. Also, I derive similar signs and coefficients when binary dependent variables are utilized.

References

  • Acar, E.O. and A. Tansel (2016). “Defining and Measuring Informality: The Case of Turkish Labor Market”. Sosyoekonomi, 24(28): 147–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angel-Urdinola, D. and Tanabe, K. 2012. “Micro-Determinants of Informal Employment in the Middle East and North Africa Region”. WB Social Protection and Labor Discussion Paper, No. 1201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arabbarometer.org. n.d. “Survey Data”. Available at: https://www.arabbarometer.org/survey-data/. Accessed [10 July 2020].

  • Baker, A. and Velasco-Guachalla, V.X. 2018. “Is the Informal Sector Politically Different? (Null) Answers from Latin America”. World Development, 108: 170–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benstead, L.J., Atkeson, L.R. and Shahid, M.A. 2019. “Does Wasta Undermine Support for Democracy? Corruption, Clientelism, and Attitudes Toward Political Regimes”. In I. Kubbe and A. Varraich (eds.) Corruption and Informal Practices in the Middle East and North Africa. London: Routledge, pp. 77–101.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Berens, S. 2015a. “Preferences on Redistribution in Fragmented Labor Markets in Latin America and the Caribbean”. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 7(3): 117–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berens, S. 2015b. “Between Exclusion and Calculating Solidarity? Preferences for Private Versus Public Welfare Provision and the Size of the Informal Sector”. Socio-Economic Review, 13(4): 651–678.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourhaba O. and Hamimida M. 2016. “An Estimation of the Informal Economy in Morocco”. International Journal of Economics and Finance, 8(9): 140–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. and A. Portes. 1989. “World Underneath: The Origins, Dynamics and Effects of the Informal Economy”. In A. Portes, M. Castells, and L.A. Benton (eds.) The Informal Economy: Studies in Advanced and Less Developed. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, pp. 11–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, M.A. 2012. “The Informal Economy: Definitions, Theories and Policies”. WIEGO Working Paper, Vol. 1, No. 26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, D.E. 1994. Urban Leviathan: Mexico City in the Twentieth Century. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Soto, H. (1989). The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duman, A. and Duman, A. 2020. “The More the Gloomier: Informal Wage Penalty Over Time in Turkey”. Unpublished mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elsayed, A. and Wahba, J. 2019. “Political Change and Informality: Evidence from the Arab Spring”. The Economics of Transition, 27(1): 31–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, K. 2006. “Bureaucratic Form and the Informal Economy”. In B. Guha-Khasnobis, R. Kanbur, and E. Ostrom (eds.) Linking the Formal and Informal Economy: Concepts and Policies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 21–36.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hertog, S. 2017. “The Political Economy of Distribution in the Middle East: Is There Scope for a New Social Contract?”. In G. Luciani (ed.) Combining Economic and Political Development: The Experience of MENA. Boston: Brill-Nijhoff, pp. 88–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, A.O. 1970. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holtmeier, L. and Alami, M. 2020. “Informal Workers in Arab World Hit Hardest by Coronavirus, Unlikely to Get Help”. Available at: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/04/03/Informal-workers-in-Arab-world-hit-hardest-by-coronavirus-unlikely-to-get-help. Accessed [10 July 2020].

  • Hussmanns, R. 2005. “Measuring the Informal Economy: From Employment in the Informal Sector to Informal Employment”. ILO WP, No. 53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanbur, R. 2017. “Informality: Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses”. Review of Development Economics, 21(4): 939–961.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurtz, M. 2004. “The Dilemmas of Democracy in the Open Economy”. World Politics, 56(2): 262–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, W.A. 1955. The Theory of Economic Growth. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loayza, N. and T. Wada. 2011. “Informal Labor in the Middle East and North Africa: Basic Measures and Determinants”. Available at: http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/657651468052140219/pdf/675900WP0P11320y0paper0text09021011.pdf. Accessed [10 July 2020].

  • Ordonez, J. 2014. “Tax Collection, the Informal Sector, and Productivity”. Review of Economic Dynamics, 17(2): 262–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, G.E., Maloney, W.F., Arias, O.S., Fajnzylber, P., Mason, A.D. and Saavedra-Chanduvi, J. 2007. Informality: Exit and Exclusion. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Polese, A., Kovacs, B. and Jancsics, D. 2017. “Informality ‘In Spite Of’ or ‘Beyond’ the State: Some Evidence from Hungary and Romania”. European Societies, 20(2): 207–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A. and Hoffman, K. 2003. “Latin American Class Structures: Their Composition and Change During the Neoliberal Era”. Latin American Research Review, 38(1): 41–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saavedra, J. and Tommasi, M. 2007. “Informality, the State and the Social Contract in Latin America: A Preliminary Exploration”. International Labour Review, 146(3–4): 279–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trabelsi, K. 2013. “Current State of the Informal Economy in Tunisia as Seen by Its Stakeholders: Facts and Alternatives”. Available at: https://www.solidaritycenter.org/publication/current-state-of-the-informal-economy-in-tunisia-as-seen-through-its-stakeholders-facts-and-alternatives-june-2014/. Accessed [10 July 2020].

  • Vuletin, G. 2008. “Measuring the Informal Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean”. IMF Working Paper, No. 08/102.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. 2019. “Growing in the Shadow: Challenges of Informality”. In Global Economic Prospects. Washington, DC: World Bank, pp. 129–195.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anil Duman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Duman, A. (2022). Mixed Perceptions of State Responsibility Among Informal Sector Participants in MENA. In: Polese, A. (eds) Informality, Labour Mobility and Precariousness. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82499-0_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics