Definitions
Informal economy comprises of different types of economic activities, enterprises, jobs, and labor which are not regulated or protected under government regulation (Women in Informal Employment: Global and Organizing; WIEGO 2019). Informal economy refers to businesses which are engaged in legitimate business activities but do not fully comply with tax, labor market obligations, as well as product market regulations (Farrell 2004).
According to World Bank (2007), the informal sector comprises workers who would prefer a job with standard labor protections but are unable to attain such jobs; workers who have left formal sector jobs to start a micro business to be their own boss, to generate more income, and to avoid paying taxes; and women who are attracted by the flexibility of the informal sector to generate income while addressing...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Anti-Slavery International 2019 Domestic Slavery. https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/domestic-work-and-slavery/ Accessed 6th of June 2019
Agbola T (1994) NGOs and community development in urban areas. Cities 11(1):59–67
Bloomenthal A (2019) Underground economy. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/underground-economy.asp. Accessed 5th of June 2019
Brefort L (2010) Unlocking the dead capital. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2010/11/18/Unlocking-the-Dead-Capital. Accessed 6th of June 2019
Capp J, Elstrodt H, Jones W Jr (2005) Reining in Brazil’s informal economy. McKinsey Q. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com. Accessed 6th of June 2019
Castells M, Portes A (1989) World underneath: the origins, dynamics and effects of the informal economy. In: Portes A, Castells M, Benton LA (eds) The informal economy: studies in advanced and less developed economies. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp 11–37
Centre for Children of Prostitutes, Forced Prostitution and Child Trafficking (2019) Forced prostitution and child trafficking. http://www.pradip.de/en/projects/centre-for-children-of-prostitutes-forced-prostitution-and-child-trafficking/. Accessed 5th of June 2019
Connolly P (1985) The politics of the informal sector: a critique. In: Redclift N, Mingione E (eds) Beyond employment: house, gender and subsistence. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, pp 55–91
Craig G (2017) The UK’s modern slavery legislation: an early assessment of progress. Social Inclusion 5(2):16–27
Debrah YA (2007) Promoting the informal sector as a source of gainful employment in developing countries: insights from Ghana. Int J Hum Resour Manag 18(6):1063–1084
De Soto H (2001) The mystery of capital. Finan Dev 38(1):29–33
De Soto H (2002a) The other path. Basic Books, New York
De Soto H (2002b) The mystery of capital. 21st annual Morgenthau memorial lecture. https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/morgenthau/99. Accessed 5th of June 2019
Farrell D (2004) The hidden dangers of the informal economy. McKinsey Q. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/the-hidden-dangers-of-the-informal-economy. Accessed 5th of June 2019
ILO (2017) Violence and harassment against women and men in the world of work: trade union perspectives and action. Geneva: ILO. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-ed_dialogue/%2D%2D-actrav/documents/publication/wcms_546645.pdf. Accessed 5th of June 2019
International Labor Organization (ILO) (2018) More than 60 per cent of the world’s employed population are in the informal economy. https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_627189/lang%2D%2Den/index.htm. Accessed 5th of June 2019
MBN (2019) Shadow economy-definition and meaning. https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/shadow-economy-definition-meaning/. Accessed 5th of June 2019
McBane D (2014) The facts: what is sex trafficking and how widespread is it? https://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/family/sex-trafficking/sex-trafficking-the-facts. Available at https://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/family/sex-trafficking/sex-trafficking-the-facts
Nangia P (1994) Children in the urban informal sector: a tragedy of the developing countries in Asia. In: Tietze W, Dutt AK, Costa FJ, Noble AG (eds) The Asian City: processes of development, characteristics and planning. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 279–294
OECD (2017) Shining light on the shadow economy: opportunities and threats. https://www.oecd.org/tax/crime/shining-light-on-the-shadow-economy-opportunities-and-threats.pdf. Accessed 10th of June 2019
Papadopoulou A (2004) Smuggling into Europe: transit migrants in Greece. J Refug Stud 17(2):167–184
Rakowski CA (1994) Convergence and divergence in the informal sector debate: a focus on Latin America, 1984–92. World Dev 22(4):501–516
Regional Development Victoria (2019) Stronger regional communities plan, regional community leadership program – application guidelines. https://www.rdv.vic.gov.au/grants-and-programs/regional-community-leadership-program/guidelines. Accessed 6th of June 2019
Ruzek W (2014) The informal economy as a catalyst for sustainability. Sustainability 7(1):23–34
United Nations (1976) International covenant on civil and political rights. https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx. Accessed 5th of June 2019
UN Women (2010) Unleashing the potential of women informal cross border traders to transform intra-African trade. UN Women, New York. http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2010/3/unleashing-the-potential-of-women-informal-crossborder-traders-to-transform-intra-african-trade. Accessed 5th of June 2019
WIEGO (2018) Violence and informal work-briefing note. http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/ILC_WIEGO_Briefing%20Note%20Violence%20in%20the%20workplace%20EN%20for%20web.pdf. Accessed 5th of June 2019
WIEGO (2019) Empowering informal workers, securing informal livelihoods. https://www.wiego.org/informal-economy/about-informal-economy. Accessed 5th of June 2019
World Bank (2007) The informal sector: what is it, why do we care, and how do we measure it? http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLAC/Resources/CH1.pdf. Accessed 4th of June 2019
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Khan, T., Teh, D. (2019). Informal Economy: An Urban Context Focus. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Sustainable Cities and Communities. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71061-7_38-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71061-7_38-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71061-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71061-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences