ABSTRACT
In spite of a raft of policies and regulations adopted to encourage the defence and growth of artisans since the 1950s, the common and consistent view over time is that successive governments have done nothing for the artisans. This was true pre- and post-neoliberalism, although the feeling was at its highest at the end of the neoliberal period, and it was true of both local and national governments. The most negative responses were following the neoliberal years of structural adjustment, when the rhetoric and policy framework were expressing most support for entrepreneurs; and the most positive were during the anti-globalisation period of the populist government of Correa, when neoliberal policy was rejected. One policy that Correa did adopt from the international organisations was the regularisation of the informal sector; that is, formalising the informal. The impact of this was to reduce non-family wage labour, increase paid family labour (sometimes by falsely claiming a spouse as a paid worker to reduce taxes and increase family benefits), and drive some small firms even further underground in order to avoid the modernising state. There remains an overwhelming scepticism about any government’s capacity or willingness to assist them.
