The informal and underground economy of the South Texas border / by Chad Richardson and Michael J. Pisani.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Richardson, Chad, 1943-

Contributor:

Pisani, Michael J., 1962-

Series:

Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Informal sector (Economics)--Texas.

Informal sector (Economics).

Informal sector (Economics)--Mexican-American Border Region.

Labor--Texas.

Labor.

Labor--Mexican-American Border Region.

Crime--Texas.

Crime.

Crime--Mexican-American Border Region.

Texas--Economic conditions.

Texas.

Mexican-American Border Region--Economic conditions.

Mexican-American Border Region.

Physical Description:

xv, 335 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Borderlands commerce that evades government scrutiny can be categorized into informal economies (the unreported exchange of legal goods and services) or underground economies (criminal economic activities that, obviously, occur without government oversight). Examining long-term study, observation, and participation in the border region, with the assistance of hundreds of locally embedded informants, The Informal and Underground Economy of the South Texas Border presents unique insights into the causes and ramifications of these economic channels. The third volume in UT-Pan American's Borderlife Project, this eye-opening investigation draws on vivid ethnographic interviews, bolstered by decades of supplemental data, to reveal a culture where divided loyalties, paired with a lack of access to protection under the law and other forms of state-sponsored recourse, have given rise to social spectra that often defy stereotypes. A cornerstone of the authors' findings is that these economic activities increase when citizens perceive the state's intervention as illegitimate, whether in the form of fees, taxes, or regulation. From living conditions in the impoverished colonias to President Felipe Calderón's futile attempts to eradicate police corruption in Mexico, this book is a riveting portrait of benefit versus risk in the wake of a "no-man's-land" legacy.

Contents:

Culture, structure and the South Texas/Northern Mexico border economy

Underground economic activities

Informal economic activities

Informality and undocumented workers

Informal cross-border trade

Border colonias: informality in housing

The informal health care economy

Family and welfare informality.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-292-73929-X

OCLC:

830023255