{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,6]],"date-time":"2026-01-06T02:18:50Z","timestamp":1767665930434,"version":"3.38.0"},"reference-count":72,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[1987,9,1]],"date-time":"1987-09-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":557452800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1987,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> In the 1970s, social scientists used the term \u201cinformal economy\u201d 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 science's 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. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0002716287493001008","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,3,11]],"date-time":"2007-03-11T03:10:48Z","timestamp":1173582648000},"page":"100-119","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":39,"title":["Developing Economies and the Informal Sector in Historical Perspective"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"493","author":[{"given":"CHRIS","family":"GERRY","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1987,9,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","unstructured":"1. Adam Smith, quoted in I. I. Rubin, A History of Economic Thought (London: Ink Links, 1979), p. 169."},{"volume-title":"Petty Production and the Urban Economy: A Case Study of Dakar","author":"Chris Gerry","key":"atypb2"},{"key":"atypb3","unstructured":"3. Leon Trotsky, Permanent Revolution, Results and Prospects (New York: Pathfinder Press, 1969), pp. 276-279."},{"key":"atypb4","unstructured":"4. Vladimir I. Lenin, A Characterization of Economic Romanticism: Sismondi & Our Native Sismondists (Moscow: Progress, 1967), pp. 71-72."},{"key":"atypb5","unstructured":"5. Karl Marx to P. V. Annenkov and to J. B. Schweizer, in The Poverty of Philosophy (Moscow: Progress, 1975), pp. 165-187."},{"key":"atypb6","unstructured":"6. Rubin, History of Economic Thought, p. 349."},{"volume-title":"Nouveaux principes d'\u00e9conomie politique ou de la richesse dans ses rapports avec la population","author":"Simonde de Sismondi","key":"atypb7"},{"volume-title":"Le syst\u00e8me des contradictions \u00e9conomiques, ou philosophie de la miser\u00e8","author":"Pierre-Joseph Proudhon","key":"atypb8"},{"key":"atypb9","unstructured":"9. Karl Marx, Capital (Harmondsworth: Penguin, New Left Books, 1976), 1:762."},{"volume-title":"The Poverty of Philosophy: Answer to the `Philosophy of Poverty' by M. Proudhon","author":"idem","key":"atypb9"},{"key":"atypb9","unstructured":"idem         , Grundrisse (Harmondsworth: Penguin, New Left Books, 1972), pp. 471-514;"},{"key":"atypb9","unstructured":"idem         , Capital, vol. 1, app., pp. 1014-1038."},{"key":"atypb10","unstructured":"10. Frederick Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England: From Personal and Authentic Sources (London: Panther Books, 1969), pp. 225-226."},{"key":"atypb11","unstructured":"11. Vladimir I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 3, The Development of Capitalism in Russia (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1972), p. 536."},{"key":"atypb12","unstructured":"12. Engels, Condition of the Working Class, pp. 216-238."},{"volume-title":"Fields, Factories & Workshops Tomorrow","author":"Peter Kropotkin","key":"atypb13"},{"volume-title":"A Characterization of Economic Romanticism;","author":"Lenin","key":"atypb14"},{"volume-title":"Development of Capitalism in Russia","author":"idem","key":"atypb14"},{"key":"atypb15","unstructured":"15. Lenin, Characterization, pp. 81-92 (sentimentality), pp. 92-97 (petit bourgeois nature of Sismondism and Narodism), pp. 111-124 (its ultimately reactionary character)."},{"volume-title":"The Manchester School","author":"W. Arthur Lewis","key":"atypb16"},{"key":"atypb17","unstructured":"17. Ray Bromley, ed. Planning for Small Enterprises in Third World Cities (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1985), pp. 3-35;"},{"key":"atypb17","unstructured":"Meier Malcolm Harper         , Small Business in the Third World (Chichester: John Wiley, 1984), pp. 10-24."},{"volume-title":"Redistribution with Growth","author":"Hollis Chenery","key":"atypb18"},{"volume-title":"Towards Full Employment: A Programme for Colombia","author":"International Labor Office","key":"atypb18"},{"volume-title":"Employment, Incomes and Inequality: A Strategy for Increasing Productive Employment in Kenya","author":"idem","key":"atypb18"},{"key":"atypb19","volume":"11","author":"Keith Hart","year":"1973","journal-title":"Journal of Modern African Studies"},{"key":"atypb20","first-page":"69","volume":"114","author":"S. V. Sethuraman","year":"1976","journal-title":"International Labour Review"},{"key":"atypb21","first-page":"420","volume":"72","author":"Colin Leys","year":"1973","journal-title":"African Affairs"},{"volume-title":"Economy and Society","author":"Anibal Quijano","key":"atypb22"},{"volume-title":"Petty Production and the Urban Economy","author":"Gerry","key":"atypb22"},{"volume-title":"The Urban Informal Sector: Critical Perspectives, special issue of World Development","author":"idem","key":"atypb22"},{"issue":"3","key":"atypb22","volume":"6","author":"Manfred Bienefeld","year":"1974","journal-title":"Bulletin of the Institute of Development Studies (Brighton, Sussex)"},{"volume-title":"The Shared Space: The Two Circuits of the Urban Economy in Underdeveloped Countries","author":"Milton Santos","key":"atypb22"},{"volume-title":"Human Organisation","author":"Terry McGee","key":"atypb22"},{"key":"atypb22","volume":"9","author":"Alejandro Portes","year":"1978","journal-title":"Bulletin of the Institute of Development Studies (Brighton, Sussex)"},{"volume-title":"Casual Work and Poverty in Third World Cities","author":"R. J. Bromley","key":"atypb22"},{"volume-title":"Bombay Economic and Political Weekly","author":"Jai Breman","key":"atypb22"},{"volume-title":"La petite production marchande et l'emploi dans le secteur `informal'","author":"Philippe Hugon, A. N. Le","key":"atypb22"},{"volume-title":"Urban Informal Sector","author":"Caroline Moser","key":"atypb22"},{"volume-title":"Casual Work and Poverty","author":"Bromley","key":"atypb22"},{"volume-title":"Beyond Employment: Household, Gender and Subsistence","author":"Priscilla Connolly","key":"atypb22"},{"key":"atypb23","unstructured":"23.Alison MacEwan Scott, \u201cNotes on the Theoretical Status of Petty Commodity Production,\u201d mimeographed (Colchester: University of Essex, Department of Sociology, 1977), pp. 1-2."},{"volume-title":"Food, Shelter & Transport in South East Asia and the Pacific","author":"Dean Forbes","key":"atypb24"},{"volume-title":"Urban Informal Sector","author":"Rod Burgess","key":"atypb24"},{"volume-title":"Casual Work and Poverty","author":"Chris Birkbeck","key":"atypb24"},{"key":"atypb24","unstructured":"Chris Gerry, \u201cSmall Scale Manufacturing & Repairs in Dakar: A Survey of Market Relations within the Urban Economy,\u201d in ibid."},{"key":"atypb24","unstructured":"Nikki Nelson, \u201cHow Men and Women Get By: The Sexual Division of Labour in the Informal Sector of a Nairobi Squatter Settlement,\u201d in ibid."},{"volume-title":"Hawkers in Hong Kong: A Study of Policy and Planning in the Third World City","author":"Terry McGee","key":"atypb24"},{"volume-title":"The Petite Bourgeoisie: Comparative Studies of the Uneasy Stratum","author":"Chris Gerry","key":"atypb25"},{"key":"atypb25","unstructured":"Bromley          and Gerry, eds. Casual Work and Poverty, pp. 5-7."},{"volume-title":"Beyond Employment","author":"Marta Rold\u00e1n","key":"atypb26"},{"volume-title":"Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economies As If People Mattered","author":"E. F. Schumacher","key":"atypb27"},{"volume-title":"Deschooling Society","author":"Ivan Illich","key":"atypb28"},{"volume-title":"Celebration of Awareness","author":"idem","key":"atypb28"},{"volume-title":"Dilemmas of Development","author":"Deepak Lal","key":"atypb29"},{"volume-title":"The Poverty of Development Economics","author":"Deepak Lal","key":"atypb29"},{"volume-title":"Socialism & Survival: Articles, Essays & Talks, 1979-82","author":"Rudolf Bahro","key":"atypb30"},{"volume-title":"Farewell to the Working Class: An Essay in Post-Industrial Socialism","author":"Andre Gorz","key":"atypb30"},{"volume-title":"Farewell to the Working Class","author":"Gorz","key":"atypb31"},{"volume-title":"Future Work: Jobs, Self-Employment and Leisure after the Industrial Age","author":"James Robertson","key":"atypb31"},{"volume-title":"Why So Few Blacks?","author":"W. M. Kazuka","key":"atypb32"},{"volume-title":"The London Industrial Strategy","author":"Greater London Council","key":"atypb32"},{"volume-title":"Contradictions of Accumulation in Africa: Studies in Economy & State","author":"P. Gibbon","key":"atypb33"},{"volume-title":"Capitalism and Petty Commodity Production","author":"Henry Bernstein","key":"atypb33"},{"volume-title":"Rethinking Petty Commodity Production","author":"Harriet Friedmann","key":"atypb33"},{"key":"atypb34","unstructured":"34. Bernstein, \u201cCapitalism and Petty Commodity Production,\u201d pp. 2-3."},{"key":"atypb35","unstructured":"35. Gibbon and Neocosmos, \u201cSome Problems,\u201d p. 169 (emphasis in original)."},{"volume-title":"Review of African Political Economy","author":"Henry Bernstein","key":"atypb36"},{"key":"atypb37","unstructured":"37. Bernstein, \u201cCapitalism and Petty Commodity Production,\u201d pp. 38-39."},{"key":"atypb38","unstructured":"38. Ibid, p. 31."},{"key":"atypb39","unstructured":"39. Gibbon and Neocosmos, \u201cSome Problems,\u201d p. 169."},{"volume-title":"\u201cPostscript.\u201d","author":"Friedmann","key":"atypb40"}],"container-title":["The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0002716287493001008","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0002716287493001008","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,3]],"date-time":"2025-03-03T23:42:00Z","timestamp":1741045320000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0002716287493001008"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1987,9]]},"references-count":72,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1987,9]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0002716287493001008"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0002716287493001008","relation":{},"ISSN":["0002-7162","1552-3349"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0002-7162"},{"type":"electronic","value":"1552-3349"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1987,9]]}}}