ABSTRACT
Although entrepreneurship in the informal economy occurs outside state regulatory systems, informal commercial activities account for an estimated 30% of economic activity around the world. Informal entrepreneurship goes unmonitored despite the fact that it significantly contributes to poverty reduction and economic development. As a result, the informal sector is open to unethical practices including corruption, worker exploitation, and natural environment abuse to name just a few. In the media, debates have formed around whether informal entrepreneurship should be assisted or legitimized. Hence, a deep understanding of the phenomenon is vitally important.
This book is the first on the market to offer models and approaches to informal entrepreneurship as well as to its prospects for economic development. Offering an in-depth examination of informal entrepreneurship in many different countries, it reveals the motivations for engaging in entrepreneurship in the informal economy, characteristics of informal entrepreneurship, and informal entrepreneurs’ response to ethical issues. This volume illustrates the relationship between formal and informal economies and the conditions for the benefits of informal entrepreneurship to outweigh its disadvantages. And finally, it gives recommendations about when and how the informal economy can be formalized, which sectors should be formalized, and which ones can remain informal. This book offers much-needed guidance for stakeholders involved in economic development programs and scholars and entrepreneurs interested in the field of informal entrepreneurship as it is developing around the globe.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|62 pages
Determinants of Informal Entrepreneurship
chapter 2|15 pages
Informal versus Formal New Ventures
chapter 3|16 pages
Evaluating the Competing Explanations for Informal Entrepreneurship
part 2|34 pages
Financial Aspects of Informal Entrepreneurship
part 3|46 pages
Organizational Forms of Informal Entrepreneurship
chapter 8|13 pages
Institutional Entrepreneurship in the Informal Economy
part 4|32 pages
Institutional Environment for Informal Entrepreneurship
chapter 10|16 pages
Unbundling Institutional Reform
chapter 11|14 pages
Tackling Informal Entrepreneurs
part 5|48 pages
Sociocultural Contexts of Informal Entrepreneurship
chapter 13|16 pages
Enterprise Education for Small Artisanal Businesses
chapter 14|15 pages
When Religion Meets Capitalism
part 6|34 pages
The Role of Informal Entrepreneurship in Economic Development
chapter 16|16 pages
Enhancing Well-Being at the Household Level
part 7|12 pages
Concluding Remarks