The political economy of micro entrepreneurship: Why does microcredit fail to promote self-employment in rural south India?

Isabelle Guérin (1, 2)

1 CESSMA UMRD 245 - Centre d'études en sciences sociales sur les mondes africains, américains et asiatiques
2 IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry

Informality is ubiquitous in most developing countries. Understanding the informal economy is therefore of utmost importance from a political, economic and social point of view. This book aims to amend this situation by presenting recent high level research which studies the informal sector and informal employment. Fresh research into this subject is presented through empirical analysis which covers Asia, Africa and Latin America. Each chapter relies on data and a detailed knowledge of the context of the countries studied in order to question the dominant schools of thought on the origins and causes of informality. The results provide interesting insights into the constraints faced by informal workers, the dynamics of the informal economy and its link with poverty issues. On the basis of the evidences provided by results adequate policies could be defined to address informality issues.

Mots clés: Economy; Informal; Developing countries

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Isabelle Guérin. The political economy of micro entrepreneurship: Why does microcredit fail to promote self-employment in rural south India?. Jean-Pierre Cling, Stéphane Lagrée, Mireille Razafindrakoto, François Roubaud. The Informal Economy in Developing Countries, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015, 978-0-415-73034-1. ⟨hal-02262281⟩