Recent research has revealed that a large proportion of entrepreneurs startup their ventures operating on a wholly or partially off-the-books basis. Until now, it has been commonly assumed that those who operate in the informal economy are exclusively commercial entrepreneurs. They are assumed...

Purpose – This paper evaluates critically the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship that variously represent such endeavour as a residue from a previous mode of accumulation (modernisation theory), a direct by-product of contemporary capitalism and survival strategy for those...

PurposeAlthough there is emerging an understanding that many entrepreneurs conduct some or all of their transactions off-the-books, there has so far been little attempt to consider what can and should be done about entrepreneurship in the informal economy. The aim of this paper is to bridge this...

Despite the emergent recognition that many in the informal economy work on a self-employed basis, few have evaluated the extent and character of such endeavour. To start to fill this gap, a 2007 Eurobarometer survey composed of 26,659 face-to-face interviews in 27 European countries is reported....

To evaluate the importance of remittances in international capital flows, a burgeoning macro-economic literature has displayed their contribution to national, regional and local economic development. Until now, however, there have been few micro-economic studies of the effects of remittances....

Conventionally, street entrepreneurs were either seen as a residue from a premodern era that is gradually disappearing (modernisation theory), or an endeavour into which marginalised populations are driven out of necessity in the absence of alternative ways of securing a livelihood...

PurposeThis paper evaluates whether early-stage entrepreneurs and the established self-employed in rural communities trade off-the-books and whether this tendency varies across deprived and affluent rural localities.MethodologyFace-to-face interviews were conducted with 350 households in both...

Purpose -- Studies on women entrepreneurs either read women through a structuralist lens as marginalised populations engaged in low quality work or through a neo-liberal lens as engaged in relatively higher quality endeavour more as a rational choice. The aim of this paper is to evaluate...

For much of the 20th century, the informal economy in advanced western nations was depicted as a leftover from an earlier mode of production and disappearing from view. In recent decades, however, with the recognition that it persists and is even growing, it has been variously re-theorized as...

To evaluate critically the recurring assumption that a job is either formal or informal, but never simultaneously both, this paper uncovers how in South-Eastern Europe many formal employees receive not only a declared wage from their formal employer but also an additional undeclared...