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

Published Austin : University of Texas Press, ©2012

Click on the following:
ProQuest Ebook Central

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xv, 335 pages) : illustrations, maps Series Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture. 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 Summary "Much has been debated about the presence of undocumented workers along the South Texas border, but these debates often overlook the more complete dimension: the region's longstanding, undocumented economies as a whole. 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."--Publisher's website Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Informal sector (Economics) -- Texas Informal sector (Economics) -- Mexican-American Border Region Labor -- Texas Labor -- Mexican-American Border Region Crime -- Texas Crime -- Mexican-American Border Region BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economics -- General. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Reference. Crime Economic history Informal sector (Economics) Labor SUBJECT Texas -- Economic conditions Mexican-American Border Region -- Economic conditions Subject North America -- Mexican-American Border Region Texas Form Electronic book Author Pisani, Michael J., 1962- LC no. 2011048580 ISBN 9780292739291 029273929X

  Permalink