Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
a foreign worker to the worker' s home country . Many
families rely on remittances for day-to-day living ex-
penses or emergencies. Some support small businesses
or make investments. According to the WB, the system
involves some 190 million migrants. During 2007 and
2008, US$60 billion was transferred to India from over-
seas workers. T Twenty-six billion dollars came from the
United States. The second and third largest recipients
are China (US$40.5 billion) and the Philippines
(30.8 billion). Now workers can make money transfers
online through companies such as “Remittances to
India.”
includes provision of services such as barbering, hawk-
ing of goods, and begging (Figure 4-5). These two sec-
tors are not necessarily mutually exclusive and should
not imply relative superiority and inferiority .
So-called “informal employment” is by its very na-
ture exploitive because it lacks formal contracts, rights,
regulations, and bargaining power. Foundations of the
informal sector rest on crude technology , low capital in-
vestment, and tough manual labor. Informality ensures
extreme abuse of women and children. Competition en-
sures that jobs are generated by fragmenting existing
work, which furthers the division of income. Shortage of
paltry resources creates communal friction and breaks
down long-standing social networks. Even self-help
groups devolve under the burden of grinding poverty .
In the informal economy , criminality is pervasive.
Godfathers and landlords cleverly use coercion and even
violence to regulate competition and protect their invest-
ments. In the absence of enforced labor rights, this is a
realm of kickbacks, bribes, and hostility among ethnic,
religious, and tribal groups. Moreover, urban space is
never free. A place on the pavement, the use of a rick-
shaw , or a few hours work on a construction site—all of
these require patronage or membership in some closed
network, often an ethnic militia or street gang.
Dual and Shadow Economics
Economies have differing but intertwining segments that
are expressed on the landscape in various ways. Much is
seen but much is not.
THE DUAL ECONOMY
One spatial duality , notably expressed in urban land-
scapes, is the dual economy . Developing nations are
characterized by two levels of economic activity: a formal
sector , functioning at a large scale in the realm of national
and international trade, and an informal sector , function-
ing at a smaller scale at local levels. The formal economy
exhibits permanent employment, sets hours of work and
pay , and regulates other benefits.
The informal sector is characterized by family labor,
small enterprise, and self-employment (Figure 4-4). It
THE SHADOW ECONOMY
Increasing globalization masks a growing shadow econ-
omy or black market for illegal or at least shady activities.
Millions of people are involved in the underground--
unregulated, untaxed, often unseen business. Smuggling
Figure 4-4
Paper and wood umbrellas are made at this
family enterprise in Myanmar (Burma). Three
generations work in this small factory . Even the
waterproofed paper is made on the premises.
Photograph courtesy of B. A. Weightman.
 
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