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Informal Exchange Networks in Formal Systems: A Theoretical Model
Author(s) -
Lomnitz Larissa Adler
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1988.90.1.02a00030
Subject(s) - clientelism , bureaucracy , informal sector , language change , state (computer science) , control (management) , production (economics) , economic system , informal organization , economics , political economy , economy , market economy , political science , microeconomics , public relations , law , computer science , management , democracy , art , literature , algorithm , politics
Studies of the informal economy in the Third World have evolved toward defining the informal sector in relationship to the state. This article analyzes some activities that escape the control of the state, with special attention to centrally planned economies. Informal exchanges include bureaucratic favors (“connections”), clientelism, different forms of corruption, and the “parallel” system of production and marketing. I show that economic laws are not sufficient to understand the logic of these economies.