1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785933503321

Autore

Richardson Chad <1943->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Austin, : University of Texas Press, c2012

ISBN

0-292-73929-X

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

xv, 335 p

Collana

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

Altri autori (Persone)

PisaniMichael J. <1962->

Disciplina

330

Soggetti

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

Texas Economic conditions

Mexican-American Border Region Economic conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

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.