IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/hdnspu/23308.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The informal sector revisited : a synthesis across space and time

Author

Listed:
  • Blunch, Niels-Hugo
  • Canagarajah, Sudharshan
  • Raju, Dhushyanth

Abstract

The concept of the informal sector (IS) has recently received widespread and growing attention. Indeed, it may be fair to talk about a re-emergence of the concept in the debate related to social protection and poverty reduction. We argue that with this new found prominence, it is even more important that we better understand the IS. Only with an improved understanding of the issues and dimensions of the IS can we design policies and programs which effectively address the needs of workers engaged in informal sector activities. This paper is an attempt to contribute to such an increased understanding by highlighting important pieces in understanding the concept of the IS across (1) time, briefly discussing how our view of the concept of the IS has evolved over time and (2) space, presenting empirical evidence and stylized features across regions. After presenting the current state of knowledge of the IS, we distill key aspects and issues of the IS and discuss their implications for policy design and implementation, especially in the context of fighting poverty and improving livelihoods of the poor in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Blunch, Niels-Hugo & Canagarajah, Sudharshan & Raju, Dhushyanth, 2001. "The informal sector revisited : a synthesis across space and time," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 23308, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:23308
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2002/01/17/000094946_01120804004891/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mead, Donald C. & Morrisson, Christian, 1996. "The informal sector elephant," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1611-1619, October.
    2. Robert Holzmann & Steen Jørgensen, 2001. "Social Risk Management: A New Conceptual Framework for Social Protection, and Beyond," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(4), pages 529-556, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Mohajan, Haradhan, 2013. "Food, Agriculture and Economic Situation of Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 54240, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 18 Aug 2013.
    2. Islam, Asif M. & Amin, Mohammad, 2023. "The gender labor productivity gap across informal firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Anne T. Kuriakose & Rasmus Heltberg & William Wiseman & Cecilia Costella & Rachel Cipryk & Sabine Cornelius, 2013. "Climate-Responsive Social Protection," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 31, pages 19-34, November.
    4. Skoufias, Emmanuel, 2007. "Poverty alleviation and consumption insurance: Evidence from PROGRESA in Mexico," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 630-649, August.
    5. Richard P.C. Brown & Eliana V. Jimenez, 2008. "Remittances and Subjective Welfare in a Mixed-Motives Model: Evidence from Fiji," Discussion Papers Series 370, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    6. Maxwell, Daniel & Webb, Patrick & Coates, Jennifer & Wirth, James, 2010. "Fit for purpose? Rethinking food security responses in protracted humanitarian crises," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 91-97, April.
    7. Roddy McKinnon, 2006. "The Role and Nature of Non-Contributory Social Security in the Design of Social Protection Strategies for Older People in DCs," Working Papers id:525, eSocialSciences.
    8. World Bank, 2001. "Risk Management in South Asia : A Poverty Focused Approach," World Bank Publications - Reports 15449, The World Bank Group.
    9. World Bank, 2012. "Resilience, Equity, and Opportunity [Capacidad de recuperación, equidad y oportunidades]," World Bank Publications - Reports 12648, The World Bank Group.
    10. Neil Reeder, 2014. "New development: UK government ambitions for a preventative agenda-- fact or 'futurewash'?," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 71-74, January.
    11. Julia Ngozi Chukwuma, 2022. "Global ideas of welfare and the narrowing scope of social policy," Working Papers 252, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK.
    12. World Bank, 2005. "Afghanistan - Poverty, Vulnerability, and Social Protection : An Initial Assessment," World Bank Publications - Reports 8522, The World Bank Group.
    13. Schulze Buschoff, Karin, 2007. "Self-employment and social risk management: Comparing Germany and the United Kingdom," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2007-103, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    14. Rajeev Ahuja, 2005. "Health Insurance for the poor in India: An analytical study," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 161, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    15. World Bank, 2012. "Addressing Vulnerability in East Asia : A Regional Study," World Bank Publications - Reports 11900, The World Bank Group.
    16. Yvan Guichaoua (CRISE/QEH), "undated". "Non-protected Labour in one West African Capital: Characteristics of Jobs and Occupational Mobility in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire," QEH Working Papers qehwps132, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    17. Melanie Khamis, 2012. "A Note On Informality In The Labour Market," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 894-908, October.
    18. Boris Pleskovic & Nicholas Stern, 2001. "Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics 2000," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14010, December.
    19. Abate Andre Modeste & Fouda Ongodo Maurice & Pene Zongabiro Nina Pelagie, 2017. "The Strategies of Staging the Choices of Degrees of Formalization of Business Activities in Cameroon," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 4(6), pages 53-63, November.
    20. D. Rajasekhar, 2006. "AT Times When Limbs May Fail: Social Security for Unorganised Workers in Karnataka," Working Papers id:331, eSocialSciences.

    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:wbk:hdnspu:23308. 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: Aaron F Buchsbaum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wrldbus.html .

    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.