IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/mpifgd/1418.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Taxing the shadow: The political economy of sweatshops in La Salada, Argentina

Author

Listed:
  • Dewey, Matías

Abstract

An effect of the informalization of production and distribution processes affecting the garment industry has been the spread of sweatshops in areas of industrial eclipse. Whilst the proliferation of these economies is usually analyzed as an outcome of sweeping macro trends, such as the “transformation of global capitalism,” the impact of domestic political decisions fostering an informal and illegal garment sector is less acknowledged. The present discussion paper focuses on informal arrangements that transform and reinforce such major forces at the local level. By alluding to shadow policies, this study sheds light on political actors who take advantage of the fact that some illegal economic activities are not morally contested and are considered to “preserve” jobs and “foster” consumption. Using data gathered in a six-month period of fieldwork in Buenos Aires, I demonstrate that the expansion of the La Salada market is the outcome of a well-established informal taxation system, a robust institutional framework that helps regulatethe growing demand of clothes and jobs by low-income sectors of the population.

Suggested Citation

  • Dewey, Matías, 2014. "Taxing the shadow: The political economy of sweatshops in La Salada, Argentina," MPIfG Discussion Paper 14/18, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:1418
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/104712/1/806912936.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tarry Hum, 2003. "Mapping Global Production in New York City's Garment Industry: The Role of Sunset Park, Brooklyn's Immigrant Economy," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 17(3), pages 294-309, August.
    2. Beckert, Jens & Wehinger, Frank, 2011. "In the shadow illegal markets and economic sociology," MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/9, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    3. Alejandro Portes, 2010. "Economic Sociology: A Systematic Inquiry," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9211.
    4. -, 2004. "Evaluación de un escenario posible y deseable de reestructuración y fortalecimiento del complejo textil argentino," Oficina de la CEPAL en Buenos Aires (Estudios e Investigaciones) 28466, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    5. Carr, Marilyn. & Chen, Martha Alter., 2002. "Globalization and the informal economy : how global trade and investment impact on the working poor," ILO Working Papers 993541723402676, International Labour Organization.
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:354172 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Engwicht, Nina, 2016. "After blood diamonds: The moral economy of illegality in the Sierra Leonean diamond market," MPIfG Discussion Paper 16/9, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.

    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. Dewey, Matías, 2014. "Crisis and the emergence of illicit markets: A pragmatist view on economic action outside the law," MPIfG Discussion Paper 14/6, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    2. Ndoya, Hermann & Okere, Donald & Belomo, Marie laure & Atangana, Melissa, 2023. "Does ICTs decrease the spread of informal economy in Africa?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2).
    3. Meagher, Kate, 2019. "Working in chains: African informal workers and global value chains," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91590, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Ogunyemi, Oluwole Ibikunle & Adedokun, Adebayo Sunday, 2014. "Towards West-Africa regional economic integration: Formalizing the informal sector," Conference papers 332450, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    5. Pedraza-Rodríguez, José A. & Ruiz-Vélez, Andrea & Sánchez-Rodríguez, M. Isabel & Fernández-Esquinas, Manuel, 2023. "Management skills and organizational culture as sources of innovation for firms in peripheral regions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    6. Maureen Were, 2011. "Is There a Link Between Casual Employment and Export-Orientation of Firms? The Case of Kenya’s Manufacturing Sector," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 227-242, September.
    7. Zoya Kotelnikova, 2014. "Consumption Of Counterfeit Alcohol In Contemporary Russia: The Role Of Cultural And Structural Factors," HSE Working papers WP BRP 47/SOC/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    8. 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.
    9. Nunnenkamp, Peter & Schweickert, Rainer & Wiebelt, Manfred, 2006. "Distributional effects of FDI: How the interaction of FDI and economic policy affects poor households in Bolivia," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 6558, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    10. Rebecca Rasch, 2014. "Measuring the Middle Class in Middle Income Countries," LIS Working papers 611, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    11. Anand Chand, 2018. "Expanding Gouldner’s Theory of Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy: Looking Back and Moving Forward," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 317-334, May.
    12. Thomas Burr, 2014. "Making Distribution Markets: Market-Wide Institutions in French and American Bicycle Distribution, 1865–1914," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 178-209, January.
    13. C�cile Dangel-Hagnauer, 2013. "Schumpeter's institution of money: Slipping off the border of economic theory and landing in economic sociology," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 1000-1031, December.
    14. repec:ilo:ilowps:413498 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Valdivieso Larrain, Felipe, 2012. "Dynamiques sociales et changement de pratiques viticoles : échanges professionnels, don et identités. Le cas des viticulteurs de deux communes dans l’Hérault," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/10457 edited by Alter, Norbert.
    16. Rosaria Burchielli & Donna M. Buttigieg & Annie Delaney, 2006. "Mapping as Organizing: An analysis of how homeworkers are using mapping as an organizing tool," Working Papers 2006.05, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    17. Sena Kimm Gnangnon, 2023. "Effect of the Shadow Economy on Tax Reform in Developing Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-49, March.
    18. Vivek Soundararajan & Jill A. Brown, 2016. "Voluntary Governance Mechanisms in Global Supply Chains: Beyond CSR to a Stakeholder Utility Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 83-102, March.
    19. Ian Harper, 2010. "Globalization and Labor Markets: Developments in the Asia-Pacific," Chapters, in: Noel Gaston & Ahmed M. Khalid (ed.), Globalization and Economic Integration, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Fiaz Ahmad Sulehri & Usman Ahmed & Wajid Alim, 2021. "Black Economy, Financial Inclusion, Financial Liberalization Nexus: A Panel Analysis Of Developing Countries," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 10(3), pages 65-77, September.
    21. Marilyn CARR & Martha CHEN, 2004. "Globalization, social exclusion and gender," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 143(1-2), pages 129-160, March.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:mpifgd:1418. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mpigfde.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.