Informal economic activity

This is the first full economic survey of informal activity - defined as all production and distribution which is generally excluded from national income accounts. Jim Thomas classifies informal economic activity into four sectors. First, the household sector covers unpaid household work. Secondly, the informal sector is where goods are traded but do not enter national income accounts (particularly important in developing countries). Thirdly, the irregular sector represents illegal activities related to legally produced and distributed goods and services (eg. tax evasion, social security fraud). Finally, the criminal sector "produces" goods and services that are illegal - theft, extortion, drug trafficking, prostitution etc. The book draws on the literature from disciplines such as sociology and social anthropology. Covering the spectrum from the analysis of unpaid housework to the billion dollar drugs trade, this timely treatment of increasingly promiment economic issues should be of interest to a wide readership.

• Introduction: What is informal activity? Part 1 The household sector: women's wages - unpaid household work and the national income accounts
• subsistence economics - the household in developing countries. Part 2 The informal sector: the informal sector - aid to development or barrier to modernization?, a safety valve for urban growth? Part 3 The irregular sector: the irregular sector - what is it and why does it matter?
• macroeconomic analysis of the irregular sector - how big is it, who is involved, how and where?
• perks, fiddles, fraud and the irregular sector
• the irregular sector in developing countries. Part 4 The criminal sector: organized crime in the developed countries
• crime in the developing countries.