The informal economy revisited : examining the past, envisioning the future / edited by Martha Chen and Françoise Carré.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"This landmark volume brings together leading scholars in the field to investigate recent conceptual shifts, research findings and policy debates on the informal economy as well as future challenges and directions for research and policy. Well over half of the global workforce and the vast majority of the workforce in developing countries work in the informal economy, and in countries around the world new forms of informal employment are emerging. Yet the informal workforce is not well understood, remains undervalued and is widely stigmatized. Divided into three sets of chapters, this book focuses on specific groups of informal workers - homeworkers, street vendors and waste pickers-to provide a grounded reality to the disciplinary debates. It calls for a paradigm shift in how the informal economy is perceived to reflect the realities of informal work in the global South as well as the informal practices of the State and Capital, not just Labour. Contributors to the volume bridge a range of disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, development economics, law, political science, social policy, sociology, statistics, urban planning and design. The Informal Economy Revisited is the culmination of twenty years of pioneering work by WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), a global network of researchers, development practitioners and organizations of informal workers in 90 countries. Researchers, practitioners, policy makers and advocates will all find this book an invaluable guide to the significance and complexities of the informal economy, and its role in today's globalized economy"--

English