Background
p. 13-18
Texte intégral
1The concept of informality made its first official appearance in 1972 in a report by the International Labour Office (ILO). However, it took a long period of trial and error to define “informality” and to find the right method to measure and analyse it. The two processes are obviously linked: first, to understand and study a phenomenon, its boundaries need to be demarcated; second, to arrive at an operational definition, a minimum understanding of the rationale at work is necessary. By its very nature (and this is one of its main characteristics), the informal economy is difficult to understand. Any attempt to measure and analyse it could therefore be considered an impossible task.
A theme central to development issues
2The need for reliable information on the informal economy has become increasingly important for national accountants and statisticians, for the academic circle of social scientists working on developing countries, and more broadly for the development community: policy makers, public policy institutions, international institutions, civil society organisations, etc. By the 1980s, when precise measurements were lacking, some components of the informal economy were well known: individual or family microenterprises at one end (ranging from street vendors, small retail traders or cheap restaurants, to small home repair or sewing workshops), and undeclared jobs in larger enterprises at the other. This multifaceted reality raises many questions. What proportion of the population is engaged in fragile micro-businesses? What are the characteristics of the activities and individuals who are locked into them, apparently excluded from the overall economic dynamics? How do these businesses work and what are their links with other segments of the economy? What are their constraints and main difficulties? What is their relationship with the state and what public policies would allow them to prosper? These questions about the informal economy concern all developing countries. We can nevertheless examine the specific characteristics that exist at a national or continental level.
3The issues related to these questions appear all the more important because the weight of informality in the least developed economies is significant, and there is a lack of reliable quantitative knowledge on the subject: the theme of informality, which is central to development issues, has long been a terra incognita. However, it plays a decisive role as work is the main source of income for households, especially the poorest, most of which are involved to some degree in the informal economy. It is linked to issues of inequality, exclusion, poverty and governance. The informal economy is a cross-cutting theme that touches on at least four Sustainable Development Goals (1, 8, 10 and 16).1
Challenges that are in line with the IRD’s missions
4What is the best way to understand the informal economy? The challenges that this subject raises are in line with the missions assigned to IRD researchers. The first researchers in the Dial research unit, created in 1990, set themselves a threefold mission: to produce first-hand data to inform public policy where it is lacking (in other words, to measure the unquantifiable in order to feed analyses and inform decisions); to participate in strengthening the scientific capacities of institutions in the Global South; and to develop high-quality research on major development issues (Cling and Roubaud, 2006). In many thematic areas, measuring and analysing the informal economy, based on the 1-2-3 survey system, is an emblematic example of what was called the “Dial approach” at the time, both because of its significant contribution to scientific knowledge and because of its continuity (Dialogue, Dial newsletter, October 2010).
Innovation and the timeline of its spread
5The 1-2-3 survey is an innovative statistical methodology. It aims to identify, measure and analyse the informal economy while focusing more generally on the labour market and household living conditions. It bridges the gap between a new conceptual definition of the informal economy and a statistical strategy to measure it, which also includes analytical and institutional components. This tool is innovative in terms of its ability to capture the phenomenon in its entirety: it is a survey with a specific approach (the specific nature of the units surveyed, the indicators monitored and the types of analysis that result from them). Previously, surveys were conducted among businesses,2 an approach that only identified the “visible” part of informal activities. By leaving out itinerant or home-based activities, these surveys greatly underestimated the size of the informal economy and presented a biased (magnified) picture. By contrast, the 1-2-3 survey starts with households to identify both informal units or enterprises and informal jobs (so-called mixed household-enterprise surveys) across all its components for the first time.
6A specific system for monitoring the informal sector – resulting in the 1-2-3 survey – was designed by François Roubaud in 1986 in response to a request from the Mexican government. After an initial trial in Mexico, followed by trials in Peru and Cameroon in the early 1990s, and after a consolidation phase within the framework of the Madio project (an IRD project carried out in partnership with Instat between 1994 and 1999) in Madagascar, this method has now been implemented in many countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia (Figure 1). It is also recommended internationally (ILO, 2013).
Figure 1. 1-2-3 surveys and their derivatives around the world.
© IRD/M. Razafindrakoto and F. Roubaud
7It should also be noted that the system has gradually been expanded to include three components: the statistical survey itself (the 1-2-3 survey), the analysis methodology, and the institutional arrangements for the use and dissemination of the results. The aim is to ensure that the results can be effectively utilised and applied in countries to inform public policy decisions and democratic debate.
8Of the many countries where the survey has been conducted, three were chosen to illustrate this case: Madagascar, Vietnam and Peru. The rationale behind this choice was that they are located on three different continents and have very different economic and political situations (a poor country, a lower middle-income country and an upper middle-income country; countries where the state of democracy, the policy of transparency in particular, and the awareness and ability of NSIs are not the same).3 The impacts of the implementation of the 1-2-3 surveys therefore differ depending on the context.
9Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world. Since independence, it has experienced a prolonged economic recession and recurrent socio-political crises. Despite this, the country has natural and human resources. However, the many changes in economic strategies and political regimes have failed to reverse its regressive momentum. In such a situation, it is essential to monitor and analyse the dynamics of the informal economy, in which the vast majority of the population works.
10Vietnam is a case study that is the exact opposite. It has one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world, a rapid international integration process and an outstanding record in poverty reduction. In 1986, Vietnam made the transition from a centrally planned economy to a “socialist-oriented market economy”. A more egalitarian approach to controlling inequality and strengthening social cohesion is a stated policy objective.
11Peru is a semi-industrialised emerging country that, after experiencing a recessionary phase in the late 1990s, has performed well economically over the last decade, driven primarily by its mining industry. Since 2015, growth has slowed down due to various challenges (economic, political and climatic). However, the country continues to face one major challenge: a persistent level of inequality and poverty.
12These countries were also chosen because they have each hosted IRD researchers on long-term assignments to work on projects to measure and analyse the informal economy (among other things). The impact of the implementation of the 1-2-3 survey is therefore more marked in these countries. The fact that researchers have an in-depth knowledge of national institutions and how they operate also means that impacts can be monitored more effectively.
Notes de bas de page
1Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere. Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries. Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
2See Charmes J. 1990. “Une revue critique des concepts, définitions et recherches sur le secteur informel”, in Turnham D., Salome B., Schwarz A. (eds.). Nouvelles approches du secteur informel, Paris, OECD, 11-52.
3Peru, where the media play a significant role and the NSI is relatively well known, is the most advanced in this respect, while Vietnam, where information is under tight political control, is at the other end of the spectrum.
Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence Creative Commons - Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
Activité minière en Nouvelle-Calédonie
Impacts sociétaux et environnementaux
Fabrice Colin, Isabelle Henry, Jean-Daniel Zucker et al. (éd.)
2023
Mining Activity in New Caledonia
Societal and environmental impacts
Fabrice Colin, Isabelle Henry, Jean-Daniel Zucker et al. (éd.)
2023
Accès au traitement antirétroviral en Afrique
Christian Laurent, Ghislaine Thirion, Michel Cot et al. (éd.)
2023
Courant de Humboldt
Des dynamiques océaniques à la gestion des pêches au Pérou
Arnaud Bertrand, Sabine Tostain, Florence Sylvestre et al. (éd.)
2023
Corriente de Humboldt
De las dinámicas oceánicas al manejo pesquero en el Perú
Arnaud Bertrand, Sabine Tostain, Florence Sylvestre et al. (éd.)
2023
Guide méthodologique Miriades
Analyse multidimensionnelle des impacts de la recherche et de ses innovations sur le développement des sociétés du Sud
Michel Cot, Laure Emperaire, Isabelle Henry et al. Ghislaine Thirion (éd.)
2023
Miriades methodology guide
Multidimensional impact analysis of research and resulting innovation on development in the global South
Michel Cot, Laure Emperaire, Isabelle Henry et al. Ghislaine Thirion (éd.)
2023
Guía metodológica Miriades
Análisis multidimensional del impacto de la investigación y sus innovaciones en el desarrollo de las sociedades del Sur
Michel Cot, Laure Emperaire, Isabelle Henry et al. Ghislaine Thirion (éd.)
2023
Une innovation statistique : les enquêtes 1-2-3
Méthode de mesure et d’analyse de l’économie informelle
Mireille Razafindrakoto Sylvie-Anne Mériot, Ghislaine Thirion et Jean-Daniel Zucker (éd.)
2023
A Statistical Innovation: 1-2-3 Surveys
A Method for Measuring and Analysing the Informal Economy
Mireille Razafindrakoto Sylvie-Anne Mériot, Ghislaine Thirion et Jean-Daniel Zucker (éd.)
2023
Una innovación estadística: las encuestas 1-2-3
Metodología de medición y análisis de la economía informal
Mireille Razafindrakoto Sylvie-Anne Mériot, Ghislaine Thirion et Jean-Daniel Zucker (éd.)
2023
Processus et aléas volcaniques en Équateur
Pablo Samaniego Ghislaine Thirion, Florence Sylvestre et Laurent Vidal (éd.)
2023
Activité minière en Nouvelle-Calédonie
Impacts sociétaux et environnementaux
Fabrice Colin, Isabelle Henry, Jean-Daniel Zucker et al. (éd.)
2023
Mining Activity in New Caledonia
Societal and environmental impacts
Fabrice Colin, Isabelle Henry, Jean-Daniel Zucker et al. (éd.)
2023
Accès au traitement antirétroviral en Afrique
Christian Laurent, Ghislaine Thirion, Michel Cot et al. (éd.)
2023
Courant de Humboldt
Des dynamiques océaniques à la gestion des pêches au Pérou
Arnaud Bertrand, Sabine Tostain, Florence Sylvestre et al. (éd.)
2023
Corriente de Humboldt
De las dinámicas oceánicas al manejo pesquero en el Perú
Arnaud Bertrand, Sabine Tostain, Florence Sylvestre et al. (éd.)
2023
Guide méthodologique Miriades
Analyse multidimensionnelle des impacts de la recherche et de ses innovations sur le développement des sociétés du Sud
Michel Cot, Laure Emperaire, Isabelle Henry et al. Ghislaine Thirion (éd.)
2023
Miriades methodology guide
Multidimensional impact analysis of research and resulting innovation on development in the global South
Michel Cot, Laure Emperaire, Isabelle Henry et al. Ghislaine Thirion (éd.)
2023
Guía metodológica Miriades
Análisis multidimensional del impacto de la investigación y sus innovaciones en el desarrollo de las sociedades del Sur
Michel Cot, Laure Emperaire, Isabelle Henry et al. Ghislaine Thirion (éd.)
2023
Une innovation statistique : les enquêtes 1-2-3
Méthode de mesure et d’analyse de l’économie informelle
Mireille Razafindrakoto Sylvie-Anne Mériot, Ghislaine Thirion et Jean-Daniel Zucker (éd.)
2023
A Statistical Innovation: 1-2-3 Surveys
A Method for Measuring and Analysing the Informal Economy
Mireille Razafindrakoto Sylvie-Anne Mériot, Ghislaine Thirion et Jean-Daniel Zucker (éd.)
2023
Una innovación estadística: las encuestas 1-2-3
Metodología de medición y análisis de la economía informal
Mireille Razafindrakoto Sylvie-Anne Mériot, Ghislaine Thirion et Jean-Daniel Zucker (éd.)
2023
Processus et aléas volcaniques en Équateur
Pablo Samaniego Ghislaine Thirion, Florence Sylvestre et Laurent Vidal (éd.)
2023
