Paper short abstract:

This presentation will discuss whether informal economic activity expands a variety of forms of ownership using the results of a large international survey undertaken in seven countries in Asia and Africa.

Paper long abstract:

One of the most longstanding questions about informal economic activity surrounds whether it should be viewed as presenting valuable livelihood opportunities for the urban poor or reflecting and entrenching poverty in the absence of formal employment opportunities. This presentation will challenge this binary, contending that one of the primary criteria that should be used in assessing the desirability of informal economic activity is whether it expands ownership, particularly in contexts defined by significant wealth disparities. Building on this foundation, this presentation will discuss what the results of a large neighbourhood-based urban household survey undertaken in Bangladesh, China, India, the Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania, and South Africa by the Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods (SHLC) potentially provides into the relationship between informal economic activity and ownership. Focusing on ownership, it maintains, allows for a wide variety of informal economic activities across a broad geographical scope to be understood and evaluated within a common conceptual framework that recognizes both opportunities for empowerment and different forms of exploitation and exclusion, and is potentially valuable as a normative approach that can move beyond academic and policy discussions that too often lack the nuance necessary for understanding a diverse set of deeply political economic phenomena.