Contrapunto: The Informal Sector Debate in Latin America(SUNY series in Power and Political Economy)

The informal sector denotes the small-scale, unprotected, and loosely regulated activities and self-employment that proliferate in developing countries. This book is about the people who engage in informal activities and the people who study, interpret, intervene in, promote, or attempt to repress or regulate the sector. The authors bring together and evaluate for the first time competing theories, policies, and research findings on the informal sector, dealing with issues of power, ideology, and politics; basic research, applied research, program evaluation, and policymaking; exploitation, entrepreneurship, and opportunity; and poverty and the accumulation of wealth.

Table of Contents:
Tables Acknowledgments I: Overview 1. Introduction: What Debate? Cathy A. Rakowski 2. The Informal Sector Debate, Part 1: 1970-1983 Caroline O. N. Moser 3. The Informal Sector Debate, Part 2: 1984-1993 Cathy A. Rakowski 4. The Many Roles of the Informal Sector in Development: Evidence from Urban Labor Market Research, 1940-1989 Orlandina de Oliveira and Bryan Roberts II: Macro Level Policy Issues 5. The Impact of Government Policies on Microenterprise Development: Conclusions from Empirical Studies Carl Liedholm 6. Macroeconomic Policy and the Informal Sector Jeffrey R. Franks 7. When More Can Be Less: Labor Standards, Development, and the Informal Economy Alejandro Portes 8. Informality, de Soto Style: From Concept to Policy Ray Bromley 9. Inside Informal Sector Policies in Latin America: An Economist's View Gustavo Marquez III: Micro Level Intervention Issues 10. The Role of Governments and Private Institutions in Addressing the Informal Sector in Latin America Maria Otero 11. Training and Technical Assistance for Small and Microenterprise: A Discussion of Their Effectiveness Cressida S. McKean IV: A Closer Look at Poverty, Planning, and Power 12. Informality and Poverty: Causal Relationship or Coincidence? Vanessa Cartaya 13. Transaction Costs, Formal Plans, and Formal Informality: Alternatives to the Informal "Sector" J. Douglas Uzzell V: Conclusion 14. Contrapunto: Policy, Research, and the Role of the State Cathy A. Rakowski Bibliography Contributors Author Index Subject Index

About the Author :
Cathy A. Rakowski teaches in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology and the Center for Women's Studies at The Ohio State University.

Review :
"Contrapunto is a state-of-the-art treatment of informal activity in Latin America and, therefore, is a critical contribution to the literature. The authors are clearly among the most informed and insightful researchers and practitioners involved with informal activity in Latin America." - Thomas Klak, Miami University "This is an important and necessary contribution to the field. It will surely become a valuable text in some courses and a required or reference work for many more." - Irene Tinker, University of California, Berkeley "This book provides access to the subject matter that no other book available does, and it should be of great interest to many academics and practitioners."- Henry Dietz, University of Texas, Austin