Governments in Western Europe and North America have placed job creation initiatives at the heart of their policy for revitalizing deprived neighbourhoods. However, relying on this alone is problematic and these governments are becoming increasingly interested in finding ways of enabling communities to help themselves. Drawing upon original, in-depth studies of self-help activities in both deprived and affluent neighbourhoods in UK cities, this book examines why the populations of deprived neighbourhoods are more likely to be excluded not only from the labour market but also from adopting...

Almost everyone residing in a developed nation knows someone who has engaged in paid work that is licit but not reported to the government (e.g., babysitting, gardening, construction, financial consulting). But while most acknowledge that such work is helpful to the individuals involved, and that informal work may enhance a sense of community, most scholars view it as a pre-modern form of exchange and something that disappears as capitalist markets expand globally. Both mainstream and heterodox economics typically assume that there is an inevitable shift towards the formalization of goods and...

Beginning with a review of the extent of undeclared work, the author discusses the discrepancies between regions and the potential impacts of the economic crisis, comparing the nature of the potential solutions available with those actually adopted. The way forward, the book concludes, is to move away from increasing the costs of engaging in hidden work using repressive measures, and concentrate more on developing initiatives that enhance the benefits of engaging in declared work and increase the likelihood of compliance by engendering a commitment to tax morality.

This book brings together two leading researchers in the field to provide a comprehensive overview of the shadow economy from a global perspective. Reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of different ways of measuring the informal sector, the authors evaluate its size and key determinants across the world. Williams and Schneider clearly establish the persistence and prevalence of the shadow economy, analysing the narrowness of existing policy approaches and explaining how these fail to address the key factors for its existence and may even exacerbate the problem.

The shadow economy has become the focus of policy makers around the world. This timely book explores the relationship between entrepreneurship and the shadow economy by reviewing how to measure, explain and tackle this hidden enterprise culture. The editors bring together leading authorities in the field to examine existing methods to measure the shadow economy, explore entrepreneurship and shadow economy practices in various contexts, and provide policy suggestions for decreasing the shadow economy. It concludes by encouraging further research in this ever-growing field.

Governments in Western Europe and North America have placed job creation initiatives at the heart of their policy for revitalizing deprived neighbourhoods. However, relying on this alone is problematic and these governments are becoming increasingly interested in finding ways of enabling communities to help themselves. Drawing upon original, in-depth studies of self-help activities in both deprived and affluent neighbourhoods in UK cities, this book examines why the populations of deprived neighbourhoods are more likely to be excluded not only from the labour market but also from adopting...