IDENTIFYING PARTICIPATION IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY USING SURVEY-RESEARCH METHODS

There is growing interest in the extent of informal economic activity as a form of income generating or subsistence activity within first wo rld economies, but little agreement exists in the literature as to wha t constitutes informal work, what activities in addition to monetary e xchanges make up the informal economy, and where these activities are located. The lack of consensus on the proper definition of the activit ies that make up the informal economy is reflected in the lack of syst ematic data available to investigate these forms of work. This paper i nvestigates using telephone survey research techniques to develop inex pensive and efficient data sources to answer questions about the forms , prevalence, and location of informal work. The research uncovers pro blems associated with developing survey based measures of informal act ivity, but it also demonstrates the viability of this approach as well as the generally high level of participation in both rural and urban places.