What is an informal economy and should we formalise all informal work?

Event Details
Formalising employment may be a desirable policy goal, however it is a complex issue that raises many questions, such as:
Can every sector of the informal economy benefit from formalisation? (i.e. waste pickers, home-based workers, street vendors, domestic workers etc.) Does formalising work challenge the structural inequalities underpinning informal work? Which long-term policies are needed in order to provide informal sector workers the safety net they need to deal with situations like this pandemic? How would society as a whole benefit from the recognition of informal work?

Jayati Ghosh
Jayati Ghosh taught economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for nearly 35 years. In January 2021, she joined the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has authored and/or edited 19 books, including Never Done and Poorly Paid: Women’s Work in Globalising India (Women Unlimited, New Delhi 2009); the co-edited Elgar Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development (2014); Demonetisation Decoded (Routledge 2017), and Women Workers in the Informal Economy (Routledge forthcoming) and nearly 200 scholarly articles.

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