Rise of Informalisation in Global Capitalism

This is an exploratory paper which deals with the process of informalisation in the context of global capitalism. By revealing the interconnections and dependency between the formal and the informal economy, it argues that the latter is an outcome of the propensity of the former to escape regulations. To this end, the formal capitalist economy encourages the emergence of the informal economy and feeds its creation to materialise its profit objectives. Through informalisation, the burden of environmentally unsustainable activities is often passed on to the informal economy. This raises crucial questions regarding the ability of environmental policies (predominantly the paradigm of Sustainable Development) to suitably address the environmental implications of global capitalism.