Chris Gerry

Developing Economies and the Informal Sector in Historical Perspective

In the 1970s, social scientists used the term “informal economy” to describe the economic survival strategies of many of the working poor in Third World cities. Now, both terminology and analysis are applied in the advanced, industrialized countries to the often proliferating variations in nonwage employment that have emerged during the world recession of the late 1970s and 1980s. In this article, social sciences understanding of the relationship between the informal economy and socioeconomic development is traced back to the early nineteenth century. It is argued that this interest has tended to wax and wane according to the cycle of boom and slump in national and international economy alike. It is in this broader historical context that the policies and reality of small-scale informal economic activity in the Third World can best be elucidated.

The Petty Commodity Producer in Third World Cities: Petit-Bourgeois or ‘Disguised’ Proletarian?

The definition of class according to the nature of the relations of production has traditionally centred on the distinction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, a focus which has involved the identification of concepts which are in direct contradiction — the private ownership of the means of production by a privileged minority and the necessary sale of labour power by the majority. This situation is mirrored in the essentially antagonistic relationship normally existing between the two classes, which finds expression, at least in theory, in the ideologies of each class. Whilst the division between bourgeois and proletarian may be used as the foundation of class analysis, it does not take account of the complexities of class formation which may exist at any stage in the development (or, indeed, the overthrow) of capitalism. The dissolution of ‘pure’ ownership of the means of production into separate but closely related functions of possession and control (Wright, 1976, pp. 21–6) and the consequent existence of more complex technical relations of production (for example the functions of foremen, supervisors and managers) is evidence that there are some jobs- perhaps the majority in advanced industrial society — which combine within the individual, elements of both the classical bourgeois and proletarian roles in the production process. Additionally, there may be persons who are self-employed and who appear to lie outside the principal sphere of large-scale capitalism.

The long road from one-size-fits-all SME promotion to bespoke business start-ups

ABSTRACT This paper reports and reflects on the results of an evaluation of the contribution to local and regional development of the EDP Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award, as applied in the Tua Valley (North East Interior of Portugal). Using semi-structured interview schedules, data was collected from young participants in the programme – both those who had gone on to set up their own businesses and those who had opted not to proceed with their business plan. Municipal support staff – the institutional partners most closely involved in the programme – were also interviewed. Content analysis of interview transcripts suggests that the implementation of the programme delivered greater awareness of self-employment opportunities both to young people and to support staff, which in turn helped to develop local entrepreneurial potential and, ultimately, foster the emergence of sustainable new firms. Thus the programme set in motion a significant process of entrepreneurship and innovation in what is a relatively peripheral territory. Improvements to the monitoring of programme performance will allow new learning processes to evolve so that shifts in the dynamics of the programme’s stakeholder network can be more quickly reflected in operational terms, delivering greater capacity to stimulate business start-ups whose sustainability is based on policy initiatives that are ‘made-to-measure’ with respect to local conditions, extra-local opportunities and global challenges.