ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors recommend using mixed methods in field research, both qualitative and quantitative. They also call for economic histories that explore the impact on informal employment of structural shifts over time in the wider economy and labour market. Producing “better” statistics involves refining the relevant standards and concepts to reflect changing work arrangements and ensuring that all categories of workers, especially those in the informal economy, are identified in official statistics. Better statistics also involve the challenge of collecting and tabulating data on the specific occupations of workers in the informal economy, for example, domestic work, home-based work, street vending, market trade and waste picking. In the economics discipline, and among economic policy-makers, there are three persistent and interrelated assumptions about the informal economy and regulation. At the heart of the policy debates on the informal economy is the question of whether and how to formalise the informal economy.
