IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijlaec/v61y2018i1d10.1007_s41027-018-0121-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Formalization of the Informal Economy: Perspectives of Capital and Labour

Author

Listed:
  • Jeemol Unni

    (Ahmedabad University)

Abstract

Informality takes various forms in countries and new forms over time. Hence, there can be no “one size fits all policy” to regulate or improve the conditions of informal workers. Governments tend to regulate to its advantage, for example to gain revenue through taxes. We call this the capital view of formalization. Workers need to benefit from moving from informal to formal arrangements. The labour view of formalization is that the fundamental right of workers and entrepreneurs must be recognized. In this paper, I discuss the journey of the concept of informality in the labour market in developing and developed countries. The debate on formalizing the informal economy can be seen from the lens of capital or the lens of labour. We argue that the capital view is only normalizing the enterprises, while the labour view is actually formalizing, with inclusion of workers in formal systems. The Indian debate on formalization to overcome the formal/informal divide has mainly taken the capital view.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeemol Unni, 2018. "Formalization of the Informal Economy: Perspectives of Capital and Labour," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 61(1), pages 87-103, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:61:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s41027-018-0121-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s41027-018-0121-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41027-018-0121-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41027-018-0121-8?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berg, Janine., 2016. "Income security in the on-demand economy : findings and policy lessons from a survey of crowdworkers," ILO Working Papers 994906483402676, International Labour Organization.
    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. Abel Polese & Gian Marco Moisé & Talshyn Tokyzhanova & Tommaso Aguzzi & Tanel Kerikmäe & Ainoura Sagynbaeva & Arnis Sauka & Oleksandra Seliverstova, 2023. "Informality versus shadow economy: reflecting on the first results of a manager’s survey in Kyrgyzstan," Central Asian Survey, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 149-170, January.
    2. Katharina Lenner & Lewis Turner, 2024. "The Jordan Compact, Refugee Labour and the Limits of Indicator‐oriented Formalization," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 55(2), pages 302-330, March.
    3. Estevão, João & Lopes, José Dias & Penela, Daniela, 2022. "The importance of the business environment for the informal economy: Evidence from the Doing Business ranking," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    4. Latif Apaassongo Ibrahim & Aidoo Robert & Osei Mensah James, 2024. "City governance, urban livelihoods, and food security: insights from street food trade in Kumasi, Ghana," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 16(5), pages 1081-1098, October.

    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. Werner Eichhorst & Ulf Rinne, 2017. "Digital Challenges for the Welfare State," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 18(04), pages 03-08, December.
    2. Angela Garcia Calvo & Martin Kenney & John Zysman, 2023. "Understanding work in the online platform economy: the narrow, the broad, and the systemic perspectives," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 32(4), pages 795-814.
    3. Valentina Franca & Suzana Laporšek & Ana Arzenšek, 2018. "How to Tackle New Form of Works for a Greater Employment Protection," MIC 2018: Managing Global Diversities; Proceedings of the Joint International Conference, Bled, Slovenia, 30 May–2 June 2018,, University of Primorska Press.
    4. Valerio De Stefano & Antonio Aloisi, 2018. "European legal framework for "digital labour platforms"," JRC Research Reports JRC112243, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Cantarella, Michele & Strozzi, Chiara, 2019. "Workers in the Crowd: The Labour Market Impact of the Online Platform Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 12327, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Maria Cesira Urzi Brancati & Annarosa Pesole & Enrique Fernandez Macias, 2019. "Digital Labour Platforms in Europe: Numbers, Profiles, and Employment Status of Platform Workers," JRC Research Reports JRC117330, Joint Research Centre.
    7. Helmerich, Nicole & Raj-Reichert, Gale & Zajak, Sabrina, 2021. "Exercising associational and networked power through the use of digital technology by workers in global value chains," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 142-166.
    8. Francisco Javier Carrillo, 2016. "Knowledge markets: a typology and an overview," International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(3), pages 264-289.
    9. Christine Mayrhuber & Julia Bock-Schappelwein, 2018. "Dimensionen plattformbasierter Arbeit in Österreich und Europa. Implikationen für die soziale Sicherheit," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 61667, March.
    10. Christine Mayrhuber & Julia Bock-Schappelwein, 2018. "Digitalisierung und soziale Sicherheit," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 91(12), pages 891-897, December.
    11. Inhye Yoo & Chan-Goo Yi, 2022. "Economic Innovation Caused by Digital Transformation and Impact on Social Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    12. Cecilia POGGI & Ariela MICHA & Francisca PEREYRA, 2022. "Gender inequalities in the platform economy: The cases of delivery and private passenger transport services in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area," Working Paper 438e22d3-239e-468a-b317-b, Agence française de développement.
    13. Raj-Reichert, Gale & Zajak, Sabrina & Helmerich, Nicole, 2021. "Introduction to special issue on digitalization, labour and global production," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 133-141.
    14. Argilés-Bosch, Josep Mª & Ravenda, Diego & Garcia-Blandón, Josep, 2021. "E-commerce and labour tax avoidance," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    15. John A. List & Fatemeh Momeni, 2021. "When Corporate Social Responsibility Backfires: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 8-21, January.
    16. Werner Eichhorst, 2017. "Labor Market Institutions and the Future of Work: Good Jobs for All?," Working Papers id:11689, eSocialSciences.
    17. Chau, Terence & Artecona, Raquel, 2017. "Labour issues in the digital economy," Studies and Perspectives – ECLAC Office in Washington 42046, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    18. Phil Lord, 2020. "The social perils and promoise of remote work," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S), pages 63-67, June.
    19. Aleksynska, Mariya & Bastrakova, Anastasia & Kharchenko, Natalia Nikolaevna, 2019. "Working Conditions on Digital Labour Platforms: Evidence from a Leading Labour Supply Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 12245, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Davide Arcidiacono & Giorgio Piccitto, 2023. "Assessing Inclusivity Through Job Quality in Digital Plat‐Firms," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 239-250.

    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:spr:ijlaec:v:61:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s41027-018-0121-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.