The Role of Informal Economies in the Post-Soviet World

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Half Title
3. Title Page
4. Copyright Page
5. Dedication
6. Table of Contents
7. List of illustrations
8. Acknowledgements
9. 1. Introduction
   1. Structure of the book
10. Part I: (Re)theorising transition economies
    1. 2. Re-visiting the recurring question of transition
       1. Introduction: the durability of transition theory
       2. The Soviet Union and its informal economies
          1. Informality in the former Soviet Union
       3. The Soviet Union’s collapse and the rise of the Washington Consensus
       4. The end of transition?
       5. Conclusions
    2. 3. Re-theorising the economic
       1. Introduction
       2. The formalisation thesis
       3. The marketisation thesis
       4. Towards a formal market economy: positive or negative?
       5. The formal market economy: natural or constructed?
       6. The formal market economy: a delusion?
       7. De-centring the formal market economy
          1. A proxy measure: evaluating the shift towards full(er) employment
          2. More direct measures of the permeation of the formal market economy
       8. The role of informal economies in post-Soviet societies
          1. Modernisation theory: the informal sector as a residue
          2. Structuralist theory: the informal economy as a by-product of the formal economy
          3. Neo-liberal theory: informal economies as an alternative to the formal economy
          4. Post-structuralist theory: the diverse economies perspective
       9. Conclusions: re-figuring the economic in post-Soviet societies
    3. 4. Beyond the formal-informal economy dualism: unpacking the diverse economies of post-Soviet societies
       1. Beyond the formal–informal economy dichotomy
       2. A total social organisation of labour approach
       3. Evaluating the diverse economies of Ukraine
          1. Beyond market hegemony: unravelling the plurality of labour practices in Ukraine
       4. Evaluating the diverse economies in Moscow
          1. Mapping the plurality of labour practices in Moscow
       5. Conclusions
11. Part II: The lived experience of transition
    1. 5. The role of the informal in the formal sphere
       1. Introduction
       2. Participation in formal employment in post-Soviet/socialist economies
       3. The illusion of formalisation: the prevalence of quasi-formal employment
          1. The extent of quasi-formal employment in post-Soviet/socialist societies
          2. Relationship between national tax rates and quasi-formal employment
          3. Relationship between state intervention and quasi-formal employment
          4. Lived experiences of quasi-formal employment
       4. Crime and corruption in the formal economy: informal payments from cradle to grave
          1. The informal economies of kindergartens
          2. Informality in the formal school system
          3. Informality in the university system
          4. Finding employment through connections
             1. Entering and surviving a ‘closed’ labour market
          5. Informality in the formal healthcare system
       5. Conclusions
    2. 6. Informal employment
       1. Introduction
       2. Participation in informal employment in post-Soviet/socialist societies
          1. Indirect methods for measuring informal employment
          2. Direct survey methods
          3. Prevalence and nature of informal employment in Ukraine
             1. Informal waged employment in Ukraine
             2. Informal self-employment in Ukraine
          4. Prevalence and nature of informal employment in Moscow
             1. Informal waged employment in Moscow
             2. Informal self-employment in Moscow
             3. In transition to the formal economy?
       3. Conclusions
    3. 7. One-to-one unpaid labour, reimbursed family work and paid favours
       1. Introduction
       2. One-to-one unpaid labour
          1. Participation in one-to-one unpaid exchanges in Ukraine
          2. Nature of one-to-one unpaid exchanges in Ukraine
          3. Prevalence of one-to-one unpaid exchanges in Moscow
          4. Nature of one-to-one unpaid exchanges in Moscow
       3. Reimbursed family labour
          1. Reimbursed family labour in Ukraine
          2. Reimbursed family labour in Moscow
       4. Paid favours
          1. Paid favours in Ukraine
             1. Nature of paid favours in Ukraine
          2. Paid favours in Moscow
             1. Nature of paid favours in Moscow
       5. Conclusions
    4. 8. Formal and informal unpaid employment
       1. Introduction
       2. Formal unpaid employment
          1. Formal unpaid employment in the private and public sector
          2. Formal volunteering in post-Soviet societies
          3. Formal unpaid labour in Ukraine
          4. Formal unpaid labour in Moscow
          5. Lived experiences of formal unpaid employment in the private and public sectors in Ukraine and Moscow
          6. Lived experiences of formal unpaid labour in the third sector
       3. Informal unpaid employment
          1. Extent of informal unpaid employment in Ukraine and Moscow
          2. Character of informal unpaid employment in Ukraine and Moscow
       4. Conclusions
    5. 9. The internal economies of the household
       1. Introduction
       2. Perspectives towards self-provisioning
          1. Views on the prevalence of self-provisioning
          2. Explaining self-provisioning
       3. Evaluating self-provisioning in Ukraine
          1. Motives for self-provisioning in Ukraine
       4. Evaluating self-provisioning in Moscow
          1. Rationales for self-provisioning in Moscow
       5. The role of the dacha in household economies
       6. Conclusions
    6. 10. Conclusions
       1. Introduction
       2. (Re)theorising transition economies
       3. The lived experiences of transition
       4. The role of informal economies in the post-Soviet world
12. Bibliography
13. Index