The informal sector or informal economy is that part of an economy that is not taxed, monitored by any form of government, or included in any gross national product (GNP), unlike the formal economy.
Other terms used to refer to the informal sector can include the black market, the shadow economy, the underground economy and System D. Associated idioms include under the table and "off the books".
Read more about Informal Economy: Definition, History, Statistics, Gender, Issues From Within, Expansion, Poverty, Possible Improvements, Informal Housing, Informal Housing in Developing Countries
Famous quotes containing the words informal and/or economy:
“We are now a nation of people in daily contact with strangers. Thanks to mass transportation, school administrators and teachers often live many miles from the neighborhood schoolhouse. They are no longer in daily informal contact with parents, ministers, and other institution leaders . . . [and are] no longer a natural extension of parental authority.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)
“Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)