IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/reorpe/v50y2018i4p727-735.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Possibilities of Transformation: The Informal Sector in India

Author

Listed:
  • Snehashish Bhattacharya
  • Surbhi Kesar

Abstract

We identify a basic dualism between capitalist and noncapitalist spaces within the vast informal sector in India, and show that this dualism has been reproduced and reinforced during the past decade of high economic growth. This calls into question the idea of capitalist transition that informs much of the discourse on economic development. We provide some preliminary arguments about the nature of this dualism and the process of reproduction of the noncapitalist economic space. JEL Classifications: O14, O17, J46

Suggested Citation

  • Snehashish Bhattacharya & Surbhi Kesar, 2018. "Possibilities of Transformation: The Informal Sector in India," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 50(4), pages 727-735, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:50:y:2018:i:4:p:727-735
    DOI: 10.1177/0486613418793989
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0486613418793989
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0486613418793989?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rafael La Porta & Andrei Shleifer, 2014. "Informality and Development," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 109-126, Summer.
    2. Raj S.N., Rajesh, 2016. "Out of the Shadows?: The Informal Sector in Post-reform India," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199460847.
    3. Ranis, Gustav & Stewart, Frances, 1999. "V-Goods and the Role of the Urban Informal Sector in Development," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(2), pages 259-288, January.
    4. Moser, Caroline O. N., 1978. "Informal sector or petty commodity production: Dualism or dependence in urban development?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 6(9-10), pages 1041-1064.
    5. Amit Basole & Deepankar Basu & Rajesh Bhattacharya, 2015. "Determinants and impacts of subcontracting: evidence from India's unorganized manufacturing sector," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 374-402, May.
    6. Falco, Paolo & Haywood, Luke, 2016. "Entrepreneurship versus joblessness: Explaining the rise in self-employment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 245-265.
    7. Chakrabarti, Saumya, 2016. "Inclusive Growth and Social Change: Formal-Informal-Agrarian Relations in India," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199466061.
    8. Maloney, William F., 2004. "Informality Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1178, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kasturi Sadhu & Saumya Chakrabarti, 2021. "Neo-Dualism: Accumulation, Distress, and Proliferation of a Fissured Informality," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 694-724, December.
    2. Balaji, Arun M & Vijay, R, 2023. "Changing structural composition of the Informal Manufacturing Sector in India during 2011-16: An analysis of unit-level NSSO Data," MPRA Paper 118846, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Surbhi Kesar & Snehashish Bhattacharya, 2020. "Dualism and Structural Transformation: The Informal Manufacturing Sector in India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 560-586, July.
    4. Itay Noy, 2023. "Unpicking Precarity: Informal Work in Eastern India's Coal Mining Tracts," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(1), pages 168-191, January.
    5. Mehak Majeed & Saeed Owais Mushtaq & Zahid Gulzar Rather, 2022. "The Complementarity Between the Formal and Informal Sub-sectors of the Indian Industry," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(4), pages 981-1006, December.
    6. Snehashish Bhattacharya & Surbhi Kesar, 2020. "Precarity and Development: Production and Labor Processes in the Informal Economy in India," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 387-408, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Surbhi Kesar & Snehashish Bhattacharya, 2020. "Dualism and Structural Transformation: The Informal Manufacturing Sector in India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 560-586, July.
    2. Kasturi Sadhu & Saumya Chakrabarti, 2021. "Neo-Dualism: Accumulation, Distress, and Proliferation of a Fissured Informality," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 694-724, December.
    3. Elgin, Ceyhun & Oyvat, Cem, 2013. "Lurking in the cities: Urbanization and the informal economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 36-47.
    4. Roberto Dell'Anno, 2022. "Theories and definitions of the informal economy: A survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1610-1643, December.
    5. Ana Moreno-Monroy, 2012. "Critical Commentary. Informality in Space: Understanding Agglomeration Economies during Economic Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(10), pages 2019-2030, August.
    6. Rothenberg, Alexander D. & Gaduh, Arya & Burger, Nicholas E. & Chazali, Charina & Tjandraningsih, Indrasari & Radikun, Rini & Sutera, Cole & Weilant, Sarah, 2016. "Rethinking Indonesia’s Informal Sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 96-113.
    7. Surbhi Kesar, 2022. "Nature and Pattern of Subcontracting Linkages in the Informal Economy in India: Implications for Possibilities of Economic Transformation," Working Papers 254, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK, revised Dec 2022.
    8. Dumenu, William Kwadwo & Appiah, Louis Gyekye & Paul, Carola & Darr, Dietrich, 2023. "Should forest enterprises formalize? Insight from a multi-dimensional characterization of informal baobab enterprises," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    9. Snehashish Bhattacharya & Surbhi Kesar, 2020. "Precarity and Development: Production and Labor Processes in the Informal Economy in India," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 387-408, September.
    10. Isabelle Guérin & Bert D'Espallier & G. Venkatasubramanian, 2015. "The Social Regulation of Markets: Why Microcredit Fails to Promote Jobs in Rural South India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(6), pages 1277-1301, November.
    11. Brian McCaig & Nina Pavcnik, 2015. "Informal Employment in a Growing and Globalizing Low-Income Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 545-550, May.
    12. Azunre, Gideon Abagna & Amponsah, Owusu & Takyi, Stephen Appiah & Mensah, Henry & Braimah, Imoro, 2022. "Urban informalities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A solution for or barrier against sustainable city development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    13. Ligita Gasparėnienė & Rita Remeikienė & Colin C. Williams, 2022. "Unemployment and the Informal Economy," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-030-96687-4, October.
    14. Islam, Asif M. & Amin, Mohammad, 2023. "The gender labor productivity gap across informal firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. Rosa Abraham, 2017. "Informality in the Indian Labour Market: An Analysis of Forms and Determinants," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 60(2), pages 191-215, June.
    16. Rafaela Bastidas & Nicolás Acosta, 2019. "Misallocation and manufacturing TFP in Ecuador: formal, semi-formal and informal firms," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-29, December.
    17. Brancati, Emanuele & Di Maio, Michele & Rahman, Aminur, 2024. "Finance, informal competition, and expectations: A firm-level analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    18. Karaivanov, Alexander & Yindok, Tenzin, 2022. "Involuntary entrepreneurship – Evidence from Thai urban data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    19. Bobba, Matteo & Flabbi, Luca & Levy, Santiago & Tejada, Mauricio, 2021. "Labor market search, informality, and on-the-job human capital accumulation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 433-453.
    20. Eliane Badaoui & Olivier Bargain & Prudence Magejo & Eric Strobl & Frank Walsh, 2023. "A Search Model with Self-Employment and Heterogeneity in Managerial Ability," EconomiX Working Papers 2023-9, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    informal sector; dualism; structural transformation; subcontracting linkages; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:50:y:2018:i:4:p:727-735. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.urpe.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.