Evaluating competing theories of informal entrepreneurship: some lessons from Ukraine

What is it about?

This paper evaluates critically the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship that variously represent such endeavour as a residue from a previous mode of accumulation (modernisation theory), a direct by-product of contemporary capitalism and survival strategy for those marginalised from the circuits of the modern economy (structuralism), an endeavour voluntarily pursued due to over-regulation in the formal economy (neo-liberalism) or a practice chosen for social, redistributive, political or identity reasons (post-structuralism).

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Why is it important?

Contrary to previous studies which assert that one single theorisation is universally applicable, this study finds that each theory is valid for different types of informal entrepreneurship, and therefore proposes a typology of informal entrepreneurship that joins together the contrasting theorisations in order to achieve a more accurate and finer-grained explanation of the complex and heterogeneous configuration of informal entrepreneurship in contemporary Ukraine.

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