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The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines

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  • Boris Verbrugge

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type="main"> This article critically evaluates existing causal explanations for the persistence of informality in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). These explanations share a legalistic focus on entry barriers and political impediments that prevent or discourage the formalization of poverty-driven ASM operators: however, they fail to fully explain cases such as that of the Philippines, where ASM is characterized by differentiation between a poverty-driven workforce and a dominant stratum of ASM entrepreneurs. Even where limited formalization frameworks provide ASM with a degree of legal recognition, this recognition is usually restricted to these more powerful ASM interests, while excluding the workforce at large. This article therefore proposes an integrative approach to analysing informality in ASM, which complements the existing legalistic focus on entry barriers with a structuralist concern over the exploitation of informal labour. Seen from this perspective, the massive expansion of ASM in the Philippines can be seen as the product of a transition away from capital-intensive large-scale mining to a flexible regime of accumulation built around the exploitation of informal ASM labour. This observation highlights the need to pay more critical attention to the economic logic and the vested interests underlying the (selective) persistence of informality in the workforce.

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  • Boris Verbrugge, 2015. "The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(5), pages 1023-1046, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:46:y:2015:i:5:p:1023-1046
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dech.12189
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    5. Van Bockstael, Steven, 2019. "Land grabbing “from below”? Illicit artisanal gold mining and access to land in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 904-914.
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    7. Hilson, Gavin & Hilson, Abigail & Maconachie, Roy, 2018. "Opportunity or necessity? Conceptualizing entrepreneurship at African small-scale mines," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 286-302.
    8. Amanda Haarman & Marcus M. Larsen & Rebecca Namatovu, 2022. "Understanding the Firm in the Informal Economy: A Research Agenda," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(6), pages 3005-3025, December.
    9. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "The multidimensionality of exclusion in the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana: Institutional reform, landlordism, and mineral uncertainty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Fernando Morante-Carballo & Néstor Montalván-Burbano & Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar & Paúl Carrión-Mero, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Research on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-29, July.
    11. Goetz, Julian M., 2022. "What do we know about rural and informal non-farming labour? Evidence from a mixed methods study of artisanal and small-scale mining in Northwest Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    12. Juan Sebastián Lara‐Rodríguez & Morgane M. C. Fritz, 2023. "How does eliminating mercury from artisanal and small‐scale gold mining lead to achieving sustainable development goals?," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(2), pages 214-228, May.
    13. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "Over-spilling institutions: The political ecology of ‘greening’ the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 438-453.
    14. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "Fluid formalities: Insights on small-scale gold mining dynamics, informal practices, and mining governance in Guyana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 324-338.
    15. Verbrugge, Boris & Besmanos, Beverly, 2016. "Formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining: Whither the workforce?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 134-141.
    16. Tschakert, Petra, 2016. "Shifting Discourses of Vilification and the Taming of Unruly Mining Landscapes in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 123-132.
    17. Engels, Bettina, 2016. "Mining conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa: Actors and repertoires of contention," GLOCON Working Paper Series 2, Freie Universität Berlin, Junior Research Group "Global Change – Local Conflicts?" (GLOCON).
    18. Arthur-Holmes, Francis & Ofosu, George, 2024. "Rethinking state-led formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM): Towards mining licence categorisation, women empowerment and environmental sustainability," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    19. Anwar Endris Hassen, 2022. "Competency oriented management for sustainable artisanal and small‐scale mining sector development in Ethiopia," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(1), pages 116-135, February.
    20. Corbett, Tony & O'Faircheallaigh, Ciaran & Regan, Anthony, 2017. "‘Designated areas’ and the regulation of artisanal and small-scale mining," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 393-401.
    21. Adranyi, Enoch & Stringer, Lindsay C. & Altink, Henrice, 2024. "Artisanal and small-scale gold mining governance and cross-sectoral policy coherence in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
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    23. Katherine V Gough & Paul WK Yankson & James Esson, 2019. "Migration, housing and attachment in urban gold mining settlements," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(13), pages 2670-2687, October.
    24. Smith, Nicole M. & Smith, Jessica M. & John, Zira Q. & Teschner, Benjamin A., 2017. "Promises and perceptions in the Guianas: The making of an artisanal and small-scale mining reserve," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 49-56.

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