CfP: What is informality and what could be? Examples from the Latin
American region
Panel (and book project) for the 4th International Conference on the
Economics of Informality 2024
https://live.eventtia.com/es/the-economics-of-informality-2024/Submission-and-Registration
December 11th (at U Rosario) and 12th (at Uniandes), Bogota, Colombia.
Deadline 5 July 2024, submissions in English are prioritised (the
conference is in English) but Spanish is welcome
Organizers: Abel Polese, Elio Della Monica, Griet De Lombaerde, Miria
Gambardella
This is part of the EU-funded project PRESILIENT “Post-pandemic resilient
communities: is the informal economy a reservoir for the next generation of
digitalized and green businesses in the Global South?”
https://www.presilient-dn.eu/
Rationale
Informality is thriving. A simple academic search of the word generates
over 100,000 results across several disciplines, including informal economy
(Hart 1973
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#),
informal housing (Turner 1968
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#),
informal land management (Leaf 1992
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#), and
informal planning (Roy 2005
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791# cited
in Boanada-Fuchs and Fuchs 2018
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#,
414). But this “academic popularity” has also generated some kind of
confusion since now “informality” is often used to simply mean “the
opposite of formal”. This should come as no surprise since “informality” is
an intuitive and moldable idea (Peattie 1987
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#), a
“socially embedded” and “performed role” (Müller 2019) that can be adapted
to various contexts, research objects, and ideologies. However, these
approaches are flown in at least two ways:
First, it does not acknowledge that all human practices are born informal
(non-regulated) and some of them become regulated and “formalised” when a
state, society or community feels the need to nail them down through formal
rules.
Second, it generates a concept that is too flexible to be used in a single
situation. Applicability of one same theoretical tool (informality) to
virtually any context, makes it challenging to define proper correlations
or link social phenomena and power relations together. As a result,
different world regions, and disciplines, use “informality” with
significantly divergent meanings, which generates even more confusion when
debating between scholars or trying to “theorise informality”
The panel (and the book project that will follow) has been conceived with
the two-folded goal of:
-
collect empirical evidence on informal practices and uses of informality
in the Latin American and Caribbean region
-
(based on the above evidence), taxonomize and theorize informality for
the region and tease out the peculiarities and main features of studying
informality in the region
To do this, we welcome contributions that deal with a variety of forms of
informality in the region, from everyday to political informality to urban
governance, shadow economies, and precarious labour (and beyond, if you
have further ideas, you are welcome to share them). For a starting
discussion, you are welcome to refer to the open access article What is
informality? (Mapping) “the art of bypassing the state” in Eurasian spaces
If interested, please send an abstract and a short biographical statement
by the 5th of July to presilient.dn@gmail.com and cc to
eliodellamonica8@gmail.com, miria.gambardella@uab.cat, griet@efst.hr
NB the language of the conference is English but if we have enough papers
we can also edit a volume in Spanish (and we regularly organise events in
Spanish). You can also submit an abstract in Spanish: you are welcome to do
so, keeping in mind that for this conference we will prioritise English but
for other events Spanish will be welcome.
Flavors of Informality and Their Advantages/Disadvantages (Source: Polese
2018
https://www.in-formality.com/wiki/index.php?title=Informality_in_Ukraine_and_beyond:_one_name,_different_flavours...with_a_cheer_for_the_Global_Encyclopaedia_of_Informality
)
Legal Perception
Social Perception
Pluses
Minuses
*Informal governance and *sistema
Reciprocity may be treated as nepotism or corruption but there is no legal
framework to deal with the situation where everyone has something to hide
Ranges from 'necessary evil' to get things done to 'evidence of advanced
degradation of a country and its society'
Avoids collapse. A last minute or ad-personam solution is usually found
The perspective of no development. Effectiveness depends on people. When
they change, everything starts from zero again
Shadow economy and informal labour
Tax non-compliance and failure to register a company is illegal
Hard to find someone openly condemning it. It is usually 'us' against the
(bad) state and usually justified or understandable as the attitude by
those not directly affected by it
Allows a large amount of people to survive. Can be used as a starting point
to think of tax and other reforms
Takes away revenues from state budget; puts the country in a negative light
with regards to the business environment; represents an additional cost to
secure compliance
Informal payments and corruption
Tax non-compliance and failure to register a company is illegal
Hard to find someone openly condemning it. It is usually 'us' against the
(bad) state and usually justified or understandable as the attitude by
those not directly affected by it
Allows a large amount of people to survive. Can be used as a starting point
to think of tax and other reforms
Takes away revenues from state budget; puts the country in a negative light
with regards to the business environment; represents an additional cost to
secure compliance
Informality and policy-making (everyday informality)
There is virtually no debate or awareness
Little reflection. It is treated as an exception to a usually widely
accepted rule or behaviour
People who are unable to meet state requirements or act as they are
supposed to can still 'live with the rule' and need not take action,
protest or challenge the state
Generates a gap between policy-makers (setting impossible objectives) and
the people (especially those who cannot live with these objectives)
--
https://www.tol.org/client/article/28463-where-your-grandmas-kitchen-belongs-in-a-museum.html?fbclid=IwAR0UbDCVvSm-C1nOVn8jB5_whil1nDfozRoUJtazsPaL9aEtpReLikKRKdoDr
Abel Polese http://iicrr.ie/people/fellows/dr-abel-polese/ (ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9607-495X), IICRR, Dublin City University
Editor: Studies of Transition States and Societies http://www.tlu.ee/stss
Out now (e-book €5.99) The SCOPUS Diaries and the (il)logics of Academic
Survival A Short Guide to Design Your Own Strategy And Survive
Bibliometrics, Conferences, and Unreal Expectations in Academia
https://www.kobo.com/de/de/ebook/the-scopus-diaries-and-the-il-logics-of-academic-survival
...recent blogs and short pieces
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2019/08/19/reflections-on-academic-fundraising-the-art-of-getting-there/4+1
reasons why you should not apply for external funding
https://researchwhisperer.org/2019/08/27/dont-apply-for-funding/
https://www.tol.org/client/article/28112-ukraine-corruption-bribery-informal-payments-government.html
Dr Abel Polese
Associate Professor
Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dublin City University, Ireland
Email. abel.polese@dcu.ie
--
*
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*CfP: What is informality and what could be? Examples from the Latin
American region*
Panel (and book project) for the 4th International Conference on the
Economics of Informality 2024
<https://live.eventtia.com/es/the-economics-of-informality-2024/Submission-and-Registration>
December 11th (at U Rosario) and 12th (at Uniandes), Bogota, Colombia.
Deadline 5 July 2024, submissions in English are prioritised (the
conference is in English) but Spanish is welcome
Organizers: Abel Polese, Elio Della Monica, Griet De Lombaerde, Miria
Gambardella
This is part of the EU-funded project PRESILIENT “Post-pandemic resilient
communities: is the informal economy a reservoir for the next generation of
digitalized and green businesses in the Global South?”
https://www.presilient-dn.eu/
*Rationale*
Informality is thriving. A simple academic search of the word generates
over 100,000 results across several disciplines, including informal economy
(Hart *1973*
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#>),
informal housing (Turner *1968*
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#>),
informal land management (Leaf *1992*
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#>), and
informal planning (Roy *2005*
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#> cited
in Boanada-Fuchs and Fuchs *2018*
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#>,
414). But this “academic popularity” has also generated some kind of
confusion since now “informality” is often used to simply mean “the
opposite of formal”. This should come as no surprise since “informality” is
an intuitive and moldable idea (Peattie *1987*
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791#>), a
“socially embedded” and “performed role” (Müller 2019) that can be adapted
to various contexts, research objects, and ideologies. However, these
approaches are flown in at least two ways:
First, it does not acknowledge that all human practices are born informal
(non-regulated) and some of them become regulated and “formalised” when a
state, society or community feels the need to nail them down through formal
rules.
Second, it generates a concept that is too flexible to be used in a single
situation. Applicability of one same theoretical tool (informality) to
virtually any context, makes it challenging to define proper correlations
or link social phenomena and power relations together. As a result,
different world regions, and disciplines, use “informality” with
significantly divergent meanings, which generates even more confusion when
debating between scholars or trying to “theorise informality”
The panel (and the book project that will follow) has been conceived with
the two-folded goal of:
1) collect empirical evidence on informal practices and uses of informality
in the Latin American and Caribbean region
2) (based on the above evidence), taxonomize and theorize informality for
the region and tease out the peculiarities and main features of studying
informality in the region
To do this, we welcome contributions that deal with a variety of forms of
informality in the region, from everyday to political informality to urban
governance, shadow economies, and precarious labour (and beyond, if you
have further ideas, you are welcome to share them). For a starting
discussion, you are welcome to refer to the open access article What is
informality? (Mapping) “the art of bypassing the state” in Eurasian spaces
- and beyond
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791>). A
table below this call can also be indicative of the kind of informalities
we are referring to here.
If interested, please send an abstract and a short biographical statement
by the 5th of July to presilient.dn@gmail.com and cc to
eliodellamonica8@gmail.com, miria.gambardella@uab.cat, griet@efst.hr
NB the language of the conference is English but if we have enough papers
we can also edit a volume in Spanish (and we regularly organise events in
Spanish). You can also submit an abstract in Spanish: you are welcome to do
so, keeping in mind that for this conference we will prioritise English but
for other events Spanish will be welcome.
Flavors of Informality and Their Advantages/Disadvantages (Source: Polese
2018
<https://www.in-formality.com/wiki/index.php?title=Informality_in_Ukraine_and_beyond:_one_name,_different_flavours...with_a_cheer_for_the_Global_Encyclopaedia_of_Informality>
)
Legal Perception
Social Perception
Pluses
Minuses
*Informal governance and **sistema*
Reciprocity may be treated as nepotism or corruption but there is no legal
framework to deal with the situation where everyone has something to hide
Ranges from 'necessary evil' to get things done to 'evidence of advanced
degradation of a country and its society'
Avoids collapse. A last minute or *ad-personam* solution is usually found
The perspective of no development. Effectiveness depends on people. When
they change, everything starts from zero again
*Shadow economy and informal labour*
Tax non-compliance and failure to register a company is illegal
Hard to find someone openly condemning it. It is usually 'us' against the
(bad) state and usually justified or understandable as the attitude by
those not directly affected by it
Allows a large amount of people to survive. Can be used as a starting point
to think of tax and other reforms
Takes away revenues from state budget; puts the country in a negative light
with regards to the business environment; represents an additional cost to
secure compliance
*Informal payments and corruption*
Tax non-compliance and failure to register a company is illegal
Hard to find someone openly condemning it. It is usually 'us' against the
(bad) state and usually justified or understandable as the attitude by
those not directly affected by it
Allows a large amount of people to survive. Can be used as a starting point
to think of tax and other reforms
Takes away revenues from state budget; puts the country in a negative light
with regards to the business environment; represents an additional cost to
secure compliance
*Informality and policy-making (everyday informality)*
There is virtually no debate or awareness
Little reflection. It is treated as an exception to a usually widely
accepted rule or behaviour
People who are unable to meet state requirements or act as they are
supposed to can still 'live with the rule' and need not take action,
protest or challenge the state
Generates a gap between policy-makers (setting impossible objectives) and
the people (especially those who cannot live with these objectives)
--
<https://www.tol.org/client/article/28463-where-your-grandmas-kitchen-belongs-in-a-museum.html?fbclid=IwAR0UbDCVvSm-C1nOVn8jB5_whil1nDfozRoUJtazsPaL9aEtpReLikKRKdo>Dr
Abel Polese <http://iicrr.ie/people/fellows/dr-abel-polese/> (ORCID
<https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9607-495X>), IICRR, Dublin City University
Editor: Studies of Transition States and Societies <http://www.tlu.ee/stss>
________________
Out now (e-book €5.99) The SCOPUS Diaries and the (il)logics of Academic
Survival A Short Guide to Design Your Own Strategy And Survive
Bibliometrics, Conferences, and Unreal Expectations in Academia
<https://www.kobo.com/de/de/ebook/the-scopus-diaries-and-the-il-logics-of-academic-survival>
...recent blogs and short pieces
- Beyond packaging: The obscure art of introvert networking
<https://researchwhisperer.org/2023/09/05/introvert-networking/>
- The unsustainability of the “pay-as-you-go” publishing model
<https://researchwhisperer.org/2023/03/07/unsustainability-of-pay-as-you-go/>
- What “the 4-hour work week” can teach an idealist researcher
<http://researchwhisperer.org/2022/06/21/4-hour-working-week-and-the-researcher/>
- “Ukrainian Dispatches”: Fleeing Kyiv with kids, ex-wife, her husband
and two cats
<https://globalvoices.org/2022/03/03/ukrainian-dispatches-1-fleeing-kyiv-with-family-and-pets/>
- What is informality? (Mapping) the art of bypassing the state
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15387216.2021.1992791?src=>
- Open access at no cost? Just ditch academic journals
<https://researchwhisperer.org/2021/06/22/open-access-at-no-cost/?unapproved=52731&moderation-hash=a5fd9b34898892f2d169c0264096b875#comment-52731>
- Jigsawing your salary - the happy and untenured researcher
<https://researchwhisperer.org/2021/02/02/happy-and-untenured-researcher/>
- Did your productivity under lockdown increase? Nope, I was busy
staying alive
<https://www.editage.com/insights/did-your-productivity-under-lockdown-increase-nope-i-was-busy-staying-alive-but-i-learned-a-lesson-or-two-on-mental-health>
- What is the best publisher for your book? 4 variables to consider
<https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2019/11/05/four-variables-consider-when-choosing-publisher-opinion>
- Why was my article desk rejected? Reflections of an editor
<https://academic-chatter.com/blog/why-was-my-article-desk-rejected/>
- Is public engagement just a nightmare?
<https://patthomson.net/2020/02/10/is-public-engagement-just-a-nightmare/>
- Fail again, fail better and then write a book about it (genesis of the
scopus diaries)
<https://thesiswhisperer.com/2019/09/11/fail-again-fail-better-and-then-write-a-book-about-it/>
- Reflections on academic fundraising: the art of getting there
<https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2019/08/19/reflections-on-academic-fundraising-the-art-of-getting-there/>
-
<https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2019/08/19/reflections-on-academic-fundraising-the-art-of-getting-there/>4+1
reasons why you should not apply for external funding
<https://researchwhisperer.org/2019/08/27/dont-apply-for-funding/>
- Estonia: where your grandma's kitchen belongs in a museum
<https://www.tol.org/client/article/28463-where-your-grandmas-kitchen-belongs-in-a-museum.html?fbclid=IwAR0UbDCVvSm-C1nOVn8jB5_whil1nDfozRoUJtazsPaL9aEtpReLikKRKdo>
- Informality in Ukraine (and beyond): one name, many different flavours
<http://www.in-formality.com/wiki/Informality_in_Ukraine_and_beyond:_one_name,_different_flavours...with_a_cheer_for_the_Global_Encyclopaedia_of_Informality>
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<https://www.crcpress.com/Rethinking-Statehood-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa-Security-Sovereignty/Polese-Santini/p/book/9780367180881>
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Reflections on Ukraine
<https://www.tol.org/client/article/28112-ukraine-corruption-bribery-informal-payments-government.html>
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<https://www.palgrave.com/cn/book/9783030050382>
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<http://www.tol.org/client/article/27560-the-museum-of-anti-terrorist-operations.html>
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- Too much corruption or simply too much talk of corruption? "the two
informalities"
<http://www.academia.edu/29796509/Too_much_corruption_or_too_much_talk_of_corruption_the_two_informalities_>
- Nation Branding and Nation Brochuring: Building Identity in Estonia
<http://www.academia.edu/29796509/Too_much_corruption_or_too_much_talk_of_corruption_the_two_informalities_>
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<http://www.academia.edu/29796509/Too_much_corruption_or_too_much_talk_of_corruption_the_two_informalities_>
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<http://www.academia.edu/29796509/Too_much_corruption_or_too_much_talk_of_corruption_the_two_informalities_>
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<http://www.academia.edu/29796509/Too_much_corruption_or_too_much_talk_of_corruption_the_two_informalities_>
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<https://www.crcpress.com/Rethinking-Statehood-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa-Security-Sovereignty/Polese-Santini/p/book/9780367180881>
Dr Abel Polese
Associate Professor
Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dublin City University, Ireland
Email. abel.polese@dcu.ie
--
*
*Séanadh Ríomhphoist/Email Disclaimer*
*Tá an ríomhphost seo agus aon
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*This e-mail and any files
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*
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