scholarly journals The Non-Work Of The Unimportant: The shadow economy of Nubian women in displacement villages

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (Summer) ◽  
pp. 104-117
Author(s):  
Menna Agha

In my search for spatial resistance in Nubian resettlement villages, I found a trend of spatial hacks located inside and around the household, and purposed to facilitate a shadow economy dominated by women and their small businesses. Despite the recognized importance of informal economies in Africa (Kinyanjui 2014), Nubian women and their society do not qualify their profitable labor as work, partly because of their domestic location and partly because of their roots in an indigenous culture that recognizes the emotional – an undervalued aspect in the formal economy. In this paper, I first present empirical evidence of the significant role these women, and occasionally men, play in the economic health of Nubians after going through the hardships of displacement, by sustaining households as well as preserving Nubian indigenous culture. Second, I highlight the role of these economic activities in expanding the use of dwelling units designed by the state and reforming the built environment. Third, I challenge the ontologies of “work” that have been forced on Nubians as part of their displacement, and discounted their indigenous ontologies of labour. I do so by examining the meaning of “work” as a drive for social and cultural capital. The materiality of displacement and dispossession in the case of Nubians women has occurred semantically: the claim of modernization came accompanied with cultural violence and the discounting of women’s labour in the gendered configuration of meaning. This article argues for a feminist onto-epistemology of work – one that recognizes emotion and its position as a capital that is generated and circulated via resources of care, trust, and sense of community.

Author(s):  
Ernest Aryeetey

The expressions, “informal economy,” “informal sector,” and “informal employment” reflect statistical terms and definitions used to describe various aspects of informality. They are the result of several decades of work to develop a framework that adequately represents the multifaceted nature of informality as it applies not only to developing countries, but also to other transition and developed economies. The informal sector is generally viewed as the set of activities of small unregistered enterprises, while informal employment refers to employment within the formal or informal sector that lacks any form of protection, whether legal or social.1 The informal economy is a broader concept that encompasses all of these elements in their different forms, including their outputs and outcomes. The many different views about the drivers and composition of the informal economy in Africa have influenced various prescriptions and policy responses. On the one hand, some have viewed informality as being inimical to investment and growth, given that the activities undertaken usually fall outside of official regulation and control. The policy response has, therefore, often been to clamp down on or formalize the activities and relationships within the informal economy. On the other hand, informality is sometimes viewed as critical for growth and poverty reduction, given that the informal economy is inextricably linked to the formal economy while also serving as an important source of livelihood for millions of people. As a result of this, some effort has recently gone into providing a more supportive environment to enhance productivity within the informal economy and minimize its inherent vulnerabilities in the last decade. In the face of increasing globalization and access to new technologies that will drive the future of work, there is concern about the future of informal economic activities. Whether new technologies lead to a decline or upscaling of the informal economy in Africa will depend on several elements. Technology will not only shape how informality in Africa is viewed, but will influence the kind of activities undertaken, its links with the formal economy, and ultimately, the public policy response, which will itself be shaped by advances in technology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (03) ◽  
pp. 2050017
Author(s):  
ELEFTHERIOS GOULAS ◽  
SOCRATES KARIDIS

We empirically investigate the role of fiscal policies on criminal activity using a sample of 25 EU countries over the period 2000–2013. Our analysis indicates that tight fiscal policies appear to have a positive effect on crime. This effect becomes stronger when property (non-violent) crime rates are considered. Further, the presence of high levels of shadow economy in a country provides a very strong mitigating factor on the adverse effect of public policies on crime. The initially strong link between tight fiscal policy and non-violent crime weakens significantly in the presence of undocumented economic activities which compensate for the lack of formal economic opportunities.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shabeer Khan ◽  
Baharom Abdul Hamid ◽  
Mohd Ziaur Rehman

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the determinants and the impact of financial development on shadow economy in OIC countries and then compared with non-OIC countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies advanced panel GMM technique.FindingsThe study finds that macro-variables (unemployment, economic growth, money supply and foreign trade) and institutional variables reduce shadow economy both in OIC and non-OIC countries. The study also explores that financial development mitigates shadow economy; however, its impact is significantly less in case of OIC economies compared to the non-OIC countries.Research limitations/implicationsSince the focus of this study is OIC countries vs non-OIC countries, the research only includes discussion about shadow economy in 42 OIC member states and 99 non-OIC economies. The decision to restrict the study to 42 OIC economies and 99 non-OIC nations is due to the availability of data.Practical implicationsThe study suggests that free market and good business environment in the formal economy are the keys to have less shadow economy. Good institutional setup and ease in regulations can attract firms and businesses from informal sector to the official economy, while political instability is one of the main factors for having large size of shadow economy.Social implicationsThe OIC member countries should implement policies which improve accessibility to finance of every citizen of the country.Originality/valueDespite the growing importance of shadow economy, the literature investigating determinants and the role of financial development in shadow economy is scarce. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no literature that examined the shadow economy in the context of OIC member countries. Furthermore, this study has covered a large number of OIC and non-OIC economics over time and across different groups using largest data and advanced panel GMM techniques.


Author(s):  
Maya Sabrina Panggabean ◽  
Tetty Tiurma Uli Sipahutar

If well exploited and closely related to other economic sectors, tourism is believed to function as an engine of growth. This research shows how the role of the tourism sector can be a factor of development in increasing economic growth by offering a variety of employment opportunities and by increasing foreign income in the country of Indonesia which is used to increase other economic activities. Activities developed as a result of tourism include entertainment, transportation services, rental and sale of handicrafts, tour guides, restaurants, hotels, manicures, and beach pedicures and more. These activities are interrelated with financial inclusion. Tourism has a strong multiplier effect that contributes to development. Through the consumption of local tourism products and other local but non-tourism products, tourism can function as a vehicle for the development of many small businesses. This research concludes that the tourism sector needs to be sustainable in order to successfully play its role as a development factor. The results of this study note that the short-term and long-term impact of foreign exchange and open unemployment rates have a significant effect on economic growth in the tourism sector.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 1896-1915
Author(s):  
E.R. Ermakova ◽  
O.M. Lizina

Subject. The article addresses the specifics of shadow economic activities in reformed Russia in the context of systemic transformations. Objectives. We focus on determining the role of shadow economy in the reproductive process, identifying and understanding the specifics of underground economic activity of the Russian economy. Methods. The study rests on general scientific methods (scientific abstraction, unity of historical and logical, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, comparison and analogy) and special methods of cognition (monetary methods). We employ the systems and integrated approach. The official statistics, regulations, works of leading researchers on shadow economy expansion, resources of reference and legal systems like Garant and ConsultantPlus serve as the study's information base. Results. We present a retrospective rapid analysis of the extent of shadow economic activity in the domestic economy, establishing the relationships with the processes that take place at different stages of the country's development. We also reveal the specifics of shadow economy relations in Russia, factors that play a key role in expansion for a particular period, a shift to another form of shadow economy. The study characterizes the current period of development, assesses the impact of external shocks on shadow economy expansion. Conclusions. The current period is characterized by the digitization of shadow relations, the shift of corruption to the upper echelons of power, the continued outflow of capital abroad, and increased penalties for underground activities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Laura Hall ◽  
Urpi Pine ◽  
Tanya Shute

Abstract This paper will reflect on key findings from a Summer 2017 initiative entitled The Role of Culture and Land-Based Healing in Addressing and Ending Violence against Indigenous Women and Two-Spirited People. The Indigenist and decolonizing methodological approach of this work ensured that all research was grounded in experiential and reciprocal ways of learning. Two major findings guide the next phase of this research, complicating the premise that traditional economic activities are healing for Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people. First, the complexities of the mainstream labour force were raised numerous times. Traditional economies are pressured in ongoing ways through exploitative labour practices. Secondly, participants emphasized the importance of attending to the responsibility of nurturing, enriching, and sustaining the wellbeing of soil, water, and original seeds in the process of creating renewal gardens as a healing endeavour. In other words, we have an active role to play in healing the environment and not merely using the environment to heal ourselves. Gardening as research and embodied knowledge was stressed by extreme weather changes including hail in June, 2018, which meant that participants spent as much time talking about the healing of the earth and her systems as the healing of Indigenous women in a context of ongoing colonialism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6411
Author(s):  
Muhammad Shahid Hassan ◽  
Haider Mahmood ◽  
Muhammad Ibrahim Saeed ◽  
Tarek Tawfik Yousef Alkhateeb ◽  
Noman Arshed ◽  
...  

Institutions help to streamline the economic activity-related procedures, where government intervention might be involved. Institutions also play a significant role in social sustainability. The findings using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach to cointegration for the period from 1984–2019 reveal that investment portfolio and democratic accountability reduce poverty in Pakistan both in the long and short run. Moreover, democratic accountability helps to reduce income inequality, but the investment portfolio’s role is not significant. The literacy rate helps to reduce income inequality, and inflation increases poverty and income inequality. The remittances increase income inequality, and urbanization increases poverty. To eradicate poverty and income inequality, the governments should be accountable for their actions to the general public while they remain in power. If they do not deliver as per their manifestoes, they will not be reelected in the next election. Moreover, there is a dire need to redefine the role of an investment portfolio to reduce the risk of investment. So, investments would increase economic activities and could reduce poverty and income inequality. This study contributes to the literature by inquiring about the role of the investment portfolio and democratic accountability in social sustainability by reducing poverty and income inequality. This study only considers Pakistan’s economy due to limitations of poverty data availability in other countries. The scope could further be broadened by accessing data for a wider Asia region to test the role of the investment portfolio and democratic accountability to reduce poverty and income inequality.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0739456X2110282
Author(s):  
Maria Watson

Local businesses are important for recovering communities, yet program analyses of the effectiveness of Federal disaster loans—particularly for businesses—are limited and contradictory. This study looks at the role U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Loans played in the long-term survival of small businesses in Galveston County, Texas after the 2008 Hurricane Ike. This research uses quasi-experimental design, matching methods, and conditional logistic regression to tease out the effect of the loan from potential confounding factors. The results show that businesses that received a disaster loan were significantly more likely to survive than their controls, and businesses that moved were also more likely to survive.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Jansson

AbstractTraditionally, the art market is associated with specific cities or art districts; typically there are internationally renowned locations like Paris, New York and Berlin. However, taking a closer look at the art markets, it is rather the temporal dimensions that are striking. Art market actors (e. g. artists, critics, gallerists, buyers, collectors, curators) are gathering in temporary locations and at temporary events such as art exhibition openings, art fairs, auctions, performances and vernissages. Within economic geography literature, the role of temporary spaces and events has been increasingly discussed in relation to economic activities and their performance, efficiency and creativity. An important insight gained in this literature is how temporary events, despite their short-lived existence, create microcosms of an industry or sector. Some temporary events even gather enough resources, skills and power to become field-configuring. In this paper, the primary art market will be discussed from the theoretical perspectives of value-making processes, temporary spaces and events, and field-configuring events. More specifically, the study focuses on temporary spaces important to galleries involved in selling and promoting primary art and artists. It focuses on how temporary spaces constitute both a characteristic feature of the art market and important spaces for creating both cultural and economic values. Empirically, this paper is based on a study of the Swedish primary art galleries and in particular it deals with primary art galleries located in Stockholm, and studies how they use temporary spaces and events in creating both cultural and economic values to themselves, the artists and their artworks. Three empirical examples characteristic to primary art galleries are examined; the opening, the art fair and the mobile art district.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Ridley

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of Muslim women in economic activities. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a historical account on the important role played by Muslim women in business and governance during the Islamic formative years. Findings – While women in the West still struggle with the rights to equal position and pay till today, Islamic teaching provides Muslim women with the rights to earn and spend as they wished as well as selected to lead economic activities based on their personal merit and wisdom. Practical implications – The paper highlights that Islamic Sharia does not discriminate Muslim women economically nor socially as often portrayed in the Western media. Islam outlines the specific rights and obligations of men and women to ensure development of a healthy society. Social implications – Society should appreciate that Islamic Sharia work out favourably for women. They are trusted to lead based on their own merit and wisdom and not for their beauty. Originality/value – This is a keynote speech delivered at the Islamic Perspective of Accounting, Finance, Economics and Management (IPAFEM) 2015 conference: 7th-9th April, Adam Smith Business School, The University of Glasgow – on the economic role played by early Muslim women.


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