Download or read book Everyday Economy in Russia Poland and Latvia written by Karl-Olov Arnstberg and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How do people make ends meet in societies undergoing fast and large-scale political and economic change? Eleven researchers present the results of field studies carried out among ordinary families and their neighbors, among businessmen, pretty street traders, and homeless people. They examine formal and informal means to earn a living in the transition period. The concept ""Everyday economy"" is the focus and common denominator of all contributions. These original contributions to the debate on post-Soviet societies should be of interest not only to social scientists and specialists, but to all who wish to gain a deeper understanding of this crucial period."

Download or read book Everyday Economic Survival in Myanmar written by Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung and published by University of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2019-01-22 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reforms in Myanmar (formerly Burma) have eased restrictions on citizens' political activities. Yet for most Burmese, Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung shows, eking out a living from day to day leaves little time for civic engagement. Citizens have coped with extreme hardship through great resourcefulness. But by making bad situations more tolerable in the short term, these coping strategies may hinder the emergence of the democratic values needed to sustain the country's transition to a more open political environment. Thawnghmung conducted in-depth interviews and surveys of 372 individuals from all walks of life and across geographical locations in Myanmar between 2008 and 2015. To frame her analysis, she provides context from countries with comparable political and economic situations. Her findings will be welcomed by political scientists and policy analysts, as well by journalists and humanitarian activists looking for substantive, reliable information about everyday life in a country that remains largely in the shadows.

Download or read book The Role of Informal Economies in the Post Soviet World written by Colin C. Williams and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-19 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on extensive ethnographic and quantitative research, conducted in Ukraine and Russia between 2004 and 2012, this book’s central argument is that for many people the informal economy, such as cash in hand work, subsistence production and the use of social networks, is of great importance to everyday life. Formal work is both a facilitator of such processes and is often supported by them, as people can only afford to undertake low paid formal work as a result of their informal incomes. By looking at the informal nature of formal work and practices, informal practices, gift giving, volunteer work and the economies of the household the book is one of the first to give an overview of the nature of the informal economy in all spheres of everyday practice.

Download or read book A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy written by Colin C. Williams and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2023-03-02 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Modern Guide presents a comprehensive synthesis of contemporary thought on the informal economy, which, as the author demonstrates – far from being a peripheral feature of the global economy – is a system in which the majority of the global workforce are employed and which has pervasive detrimental effects. Formalising it is therefore a priority for most governments.

Download or read book Needed by Nobody written by Tova Höjdestrand and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Homelessness became a conspicuous facet of Russian cityscapes only in the 1990s, when the Soviet criminalization of vagrancy and similar offenses was abolished. In spite of the host of social and economic problems confronting Russia in the demise of Soviet power, the social dislocation endured by increasing numbers of people went largely unrecognized by the state. Being homeless carries a special burden in Russia, where a permanent address is the precondition for all civil rights and social benefits and where homelessness is often regarded as a result of laziness and drinking, rather than external factors. In Needed by Nobody, the anthropologist Tova Höjdestrand offers a nuanced portrait of homelessness in St. Petersburg. Based on ethnographic work at railway stations, soup kitchens, and other places where the homeless gather, Höjdestrand describes the material and mental world of this marginalized population. They are, she observes, "not needed" in two senses. The state considers them, in effect, as noncitizens. At the same time they stand outside the traditionally intimate social networks that are the real safety net of life in postsocialist Russia. As a result, they are deprived of the prerequisites for dealing with others in ways that they themselves value as "decent" and "human." Höjdestrand investigates processes of social exclusion as well as the remaining "world of waste": things, tasks, and places that are wanted by nobody else and on which "human leftovers" are forced to survive. In this bleak context, Höjdestrand takes up the intimate worlds of the homeless—their social relationships, dirt and cleanliness, and physical appearance. Her interviews with homeless people show that the indigent have a very good idea of what others think of them and that they are liable to reproduce the stigma that is attached to them even as they attempt to negotiate it. This unique and often moving portrait of life on the margins of society in the new Russia ultimately reveals how human dignity may be retained in the absence of its very preconditions.

Download or read book Confronting the Shadow Economy written by Colin C. Williams and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2014-11-28 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with a review of the extent of undeclared work, the author discusses the discrepancies between regions and the potential impacts of the economic crisis, comparing the nature of the potential solutions available with those actually adopted. Th

Download or read book Adapting to Russia s New Labour Market written by Sarah Ashwin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic reform in post-Soviet Russia created not only a devastating decline in living standards, but also widespread insecurity and uncertainty. This book is the first to analyse the situation from a gendered perspective, shedding new light on the way in which Russians are coping with the transformation of the labour market. The book examines gender differences in responses to economic reform, and considers the implications of these for the labour market outcomes and wider well-being of men and women during transition. Based on original research carried out by an experienced team of sociologists, the book analyses the journeys of 240 men and women through the turbulent Russian labour market of 1999-2001. It includes chapters on: *the way gender norms inherited from the Soviet era have influenced responses to transition *sex segregation and discrimination in the labour market *gender differences in work orientations and behaviour *who benefits from networks *which life events are most likely to initiate downward economic trajectories.

Download or read book Handbook on the Shadow Economy written by Friedrich Schneider and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This original and insightful handbook presents the latest research on the size and development of the shadow economy (also known as the black or underground economy), an integral component of the most developing and many developed countries' economies.

Download or read book A Commodified World written by Colin C. Williams and published by Zed Books. This book was released on 2005-03-04 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a critique of the assumption of increasing commodification in the modern economy.

Download or read book Re Thinking the Future of Work written by Colin C. Williams and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2007-02-28 with total page 636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How will work be organised in the future? With its global perspective and critical approach, Re-Thinking the Future of Work provides not only an overview and examination of the array of competing visions, but also a radical rethink about the direction of change.

Download or read book Informal Relations from Democratic Representation to Corruption written by Zdenka and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Informal relations have been one of the major research topics of the social sciences since the 1990s. In order to allow for meaningful comparisons between different combinations of the positive and negative effects of informal relations on democratic representation, this book focuses on post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe as a particular region where formal democratic rules have been established, but competing informal rules are still strong. A broad spectrum of related analytical concepts is discussed from different perspectives and from different academic disciplines, then empirical cases of the relationship between informal relations and democratic representation are analyzed. The contributions span the whole continuum, as we perceive it, from civil society networks seen as supporting democratic representation to the perversion of democratic representation through political corruption. The final part of the book takes a closer look at corruption through four case studies from Russia.

Download or read book The Hidden Enterprise Culture written by Colin C. Williams and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book will be an excellent primer for policy makers wishing to understand the nature and contradictory significance of the underground economy and needing to design suitably subtle policy responses to it. Roger Lee, Growth and Change The Hidden Enterprise Culture is a top pick for any economist or academician interested in this field, as well as for any underground entrepreneur who wants to make their enterprise lawful with the fewest possible legal complications. Midwest Book Review Strongly recommended for policy makers and students of business. Global Business Review Portraying how entrepreneurs often start out conducting some or all of their trade on an off-the-books basis and how many continue to do so once they become established, this book provides the first detailed account of the vast and ubiquitous hidden enterprise culture existing in the interstices of western economies. Until now, the role of the underground economy in enterprise creation, entrepreneurship and small business development has been largely ignored despite its widespread prevalence and importance. In contrast to much of the previous literature that views the underground economy as low-paid, exploitative sweatshop work that should be deterred, this book takes a fresh, more positive perspective that considers the underground economy as a hidden enterprise culture. Colin C. Williams prescribes the means by which western governments can best harness this hidden culture of enterprise. He outlines detailed policy initiatives that seek to assist business ventures in setting up on a formal footing, and aim to encourage underground enterprises and entrepreneurs to make the transition into the realm of legitimacy. This book provides a lucid guide as to how the hidden culture of enterprise can be brought into the open. As such, it will prove invaluable to a wide-ranging audience including scholars and students of business studies, entrepreneurship, management, economics and regional science.

Download or read book The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality Volume 2 written by Alena Ledeneva and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2018-01-17 with total page 571 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alena Ledeneva invites you on a voyage of discovery to explore society’s open secrets, unwritten rules and know-how practices. Broadly defined as ‘ways of getting things done’, these invisible yet powerful informal practices tend to escape articulation in official discourse. They include emotion-driven exchanges of gifts or favours and tributes for services, interest-driven know-how (from informal welfare to informal employment and entrepreneurship), identity-driven practices of solidarity, and power-driven forms of co-optation and control. The paradox, or not, of the invisibility of these informal practices is their ubiquity. Expertly practised by insiders but often hidden from outsiders, informal practices are, as this book shows, deeply rooted all over the world, yet underestimated in policy. Entries from the five continents presented in this volume are samples of the truly global and ever-growing collection, made possible by a remarkable collaboration of over 200 scholars across disciplines and area studies. By mapping the grey zones, blurred boundaries, types of ambivalence and contexts of complexity, this book creates the first Global Map of Informality. The accompanying database (www.in-formality.com) is searchable by region, keyword or type of practice, so do explore what works, how, where and why! Praise for Global Encyclopaedia of Informality ‘The Global Informality Project unveils new ways of understanding how the state functions and ways in which civil servants and citizens adapt themselves to different local contexts by highlighting the diversity of the relationships between state and society. The project is of great interest to policymakers who want to imagine solutions that are benefi cial for all, but sufficiently pragmatic to ensure a seamless implementation, particularly in the field of cross-border trade in developing countries.’ - Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation, Brussels ‘An extremely interesting and stimulating collection of papers. Ledeneva’s challenging ideas, first applied in the context of Russia’s economy of shortage, came to full blossom and are here contextualized by practices from other countries and contemporary systems. Many original and relevant practices were recognized empirically in socialist countries, but this book shows their generality.’ - János Kornai, Allie S. Freed Professor of Economics Emeritus at Harvard and Professor Emeritus at Corvinus University of Budapest ‘Alena Ledeneva’s Global Encyclopedia of Informality is a unique contribution, providing a global atlas of informal practices through the contributions of over 200 scholars across the world. It is far more rewarding for the reader to discover how commonalities of informal behavior become apparent through this rich texture like a complex and hidden pattern behind local colors than to presume top down universal benchmarks of good versus bad behavior. This book is a plea against reductionist approaches of mathematics in social science in general, and corruption studies in particular and makes a great read, as well as an indispensable guide to understand the cultural richness of the world.’ - Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin ‘Transformative scholarship in method, object, and consequence. Ledeneva and her networked expertise not only enable us to view the informal comparatively, but challenge conventionally legible accounts of membership, markets, domination and resistance with these rich accounts from five continents. This project offers nothing less than a social scientific revolution… if the broader scholarly community has the imagination to follow through. And by globalizing these informal knowledges typically hidden from view, the volumes’ contributors will extend the imaginations of those business consultants, movement mobilizers, and peace makers who can appreciate the value of translation from other world regions in their own work.’ Michael D. Kennedy, Professor of Sociology and International and Public Aff irs, Brown University and author of Globalizing Knowledge ‘Don’t mistake these weighty volumes for anything directory-like or anonymous. This wonderful collection of short essays, penned by many of the single best experts in their fields, puts the reader squarely in the kinds of conversations culled only after years of friendship, trust, and with the keen eye of the practiced observer. Perhaps most importantly, the remarkably wide range of offerings lets us “de-parochialise” corruption, and detach it from the usual hyper-local and cultural explanations. The reader, in the end, is the one invited to consider the many and striking commonalities.’ Bruce Grant, Professor at New York University and Chair of the US National Council for East European and Eurasian Research

Download or read book Income Inequality and Poverty During the Transition from Planned to Market Economy written by Branko Milanovi? and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Bank Technical Paper No. 394. Joint Forest Management (JFM) has emerged as an important intervention in the management of Indias forest resources. This report sets out an analytical method for examining the costs and benefits of JFM arrangements. Two pilot case studies in which the method was used demonstrate interesting outcomes regarding incentives for various groups to participate. The main objective of this study is to develop a better understanding of the incentives for communities to participate in JFM.

Download or read book Crossing the Line written by Svetlana Stephenson and published by Dr. Svetlana Stephenson. This book was released on 2006 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pioneering book is the first to explore the experiences of homeless people in Russia in the late Soviet period and during post-socialist transition. By using in-depth interviews, Svetlana Stephenson places the narratives within the framework of theoretical perspectives on social-spatial exclusion and advances the understanding of homelessness in Russia as an extreme case of social-territorial displacement.

Download or read book Ethnographies of Grey Zones in Eastern Europe written by Ida Harboe Knudsen and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2015-04-15 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last two decades, Eastern Europe has experienced extensive changes in geo-political relocations and relations leading to everyday uncertainty. Attempts to establish liberal democracies, re-orientations from planned to market economics, and a desire to create ‘new states’ and internationally minded ‘new citizens’ has left some in poverty, unemployment and social insecurity, leading them to rely on normative coping and semi-autonomous strategies for security and social guarantees. This anthology explores how grey zones of governance, borders, relations and invisibilities affect contemporary Eastern Europe.

Download or read book Cash in Hand Work written by C. Williams and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-07-03 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uncovering how cash-in-hand economies are composed of not only the underground sector (work akin to formal employment conducted for profit-motivated purposes), but also a hidden economy of favours more akin to mutual aid, this book displays the need to transcend conventional market-oriented readings of cash-in-hand work and radically rethink whether seeking its eradication through tougher regulations is always appropriate. It argues for a variegated policy approach that recognizes these two distinct forms of cash-in-hand work and which tailors policy accordingly.