Reading Development

Random readings on society, politics and change – Jorge Carrillo

Urban-to-rural labour transitions from the factory to the informal economy

The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated processes of labour transition from industrial work to the informal economy, which have always characterized the life of the working poor. Exploring urban-to-rural labour transitions … Continue reading

Monday, 1 November 2021 · Leave a comment

Sidewalk informality: Street vending regulation in China

Street vending represents a vital and growing aspect of the urban informal economy that is often the subject of municipal regulatory efforts that seek to control, confine or extinguish it. … Continue reading

Friday, 24 September 2021 · Leave a comment

Stripping back the mask: Working conditions on digital labour platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic

Digital labour platforms have been widely promoted as a solution to the unemployment crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic has also highlighted the harms to gig workers—who … Continue reading

Sunday, 22 August 2021 · Leave a comment

A Value Theory of Inclusion: Informal Labour, the Homeworker, and the Social Reproduction of Value

Critically engaging with Marxist-Feminist debates, this article argues that only interpretations of social reproduction as value-producing capture the features of contemporary informalised labour relations. Building on early social reproduction analyses … Continue reading

Monday, 12 July 2021 · Leave a comment

Informality and pension reforms in Bolivia

How social protection programmes affect work choices is a question that has been at the centre of labour economics research for decades. More recently, a scant literature has focused on … Continue reading

Monday, 28 June 2021 · Leave a comment

On international solidarity in a resilient and sustainable urban food system

What does a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic mean for the transition to a sustainable food system for cities? Using the concrete Dutch initiative Support Your Locals that emerged in … Continue reading

Monday, 8 February 2021 · Leave a comment

The Role of Informal Work in Supplementing Americans’ Income

Data from the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking indicate that, over the course of a month, more than one-quarter of adults engage in some informal work outside of a … Continue reading

Tuesday, 2 February 2021 · Leave a comment

Informality, Inequality, and Feminization of Labor

Using two novel datasets of the size of the informal economy and income inequality, this study provides evidence on the nexus of informality and inequality with particular attention to the … Continue reading

Sunday, 10 January 2021 · Leave a comment

Planning for a world beyond COVID-19: Five pillars for post-neoliberal development

Our five priorities are not meant to be exhaustive, but aim to stimulate debate on the key levers needed to place communities, nations and indeed the globe on a different … Continue reading

Saturday, 9 January 2021 · Leave a comment