Management Society and the Informal Economy

<p>Informal economic activity defined as exchanges made by individuals and organizations in extra-legal or non-bureaucratic contexts represents a significant and growing share of global economic activity. The informal economy brings to mind images of street vendors in markets and bazaars throughout the developing world; indeed informal economic activity ranges from 25-75% of economic activity depending on the country under study. Informal activity also includes under the table or off the books business in the developed world such as informal labor arrangements in child care construction or home cleaning in the United States or Western Europe. </p> <p>What many fail to realize however is the increasing presence of informal economic activity in the developed world's largest corporations and most innovative entrepreneurial ventures such as technology development work in Silicon Valley open source software agreements or employment arrangements between technology stars and firms.</p><i> <p>Management Society and the Informal Economy</i> brings to light the role of the informal economy in the 21st century. The book does more than illuminate however - it also calls for increased focus on the informal economy by management scholars. Each chapter contains a call to action as well as practical and methodological advice for scholarship on the topic.</p><i> <p>Management Society and the Informal Economy</i> contains a multi-faceted set of arguments descriptions and illustrations designed to convince management scholars that they should attend to the informal economy and view it as a serious and rigorous context for theorizing empirical research and even practical advocacy. </p>