ABSTRACT
An individual's opportunity set is composed of physical and emotional capacities plus legal or customary understandings of potential options that are conditioned by the actual choice of others. Allan Schmid argues that opportunity sets of potential actors are determined in part by the rules established by the institutions. Opportunity sets were introduced in the model to be able to pay attention to perceptions while at the same time remaining aware of the shaky character of the indirect measurability of emotions and the feeling of security or trust provided by formal or informal institutions. Changing opportunity sets are an important indicator for re-emerging customs and customary rules but also early warning signals of less-desired developments. The effect of a change in opportunity sets for the rural population in the Kyrgyz Republic is measurable in the increasing number of single-family and associations of peasant farms. Field observations in the Kyrgyz Republic reveal that there is a widely spread informal economy.
