Introduction: Informal Economy, Vulnerabilities, and Popular Security-Enhancing Practices

(eng) This chapter shows the importance of moving from modernization theories to institutionnalist approaches when studying the informal economy. This has the effect of ‘opening the black box’ of these practices and allowing an in-depth study of their inner socioeconomic logics, taking into account their interactions with institutions and social norms. The chapter proposes, in particular, a substantive approach to the popular economy based on Karl Polanyi’s intellectual legacy, which recognizes the plurality of the principles of economic integration—market, redistribution, reciprocity, and householding. This provides a framework for analyzing the diverse practices and processes through which popular actors secure their livelihoods, and the multiple relationships between the informal and the formal economy. Such a paradigm shift leads the authors to recommend multi-scalar policy frameworks—that is, at micro, meso, and macro level—to better address the challenges to development confronting the informal economy.