Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Singh, Bir, India's Informal Economy: Contractual Labour in the Formal Manufacturing Sector. (Routledge Studies in Labour Economics) 176 pp. 2023:5 (Routledge, UK) <694-210>
ISBN 978-1-03-237371-3 hard ¥38,461.- (税込) GB￡ 135.00 *

The demand for economic inclusion has increasingly intensified, as manifested by the growing movements of farmers, workers and social activists. Therefore, the question of adequate social representation of marginalized and underprivileged communities has to be made pivotal in the discourse of inclusion. This book investigates selected aspects of labour market informality in India. It examines the key factors that have expedited labour informality-contractualisation-in the manufacturing sector since the early 1990s. It analyses the features of informality and inclusion from the perspective of not just class but also the caste hierarchy in Indian society, thus offering readers an exhaustive overview of economic inclusion following the economic reforms and providing fresh insights into labour market informality through the lens of the social divisions in Indian society. Developed on a wide canvas of multiple processes, policies, and factors that have contributed to this phenomenon, the book offers an elaborate analysis of contractualisation within the industry from the perspectives of labour legislation and the labour market. In addition, it contextualizes the issue of job informality for the post-economic reforms era, from 1991 onwards. It examines the impact of the policies of economic reform on contractualisation across industries and states. Further, the book discusses the dynamics of the labour market reforms in India, given that there is a higher incidence of labour informality in India. It also highlights how the policy quest for inclusive growth has remained unfulfilled. This book will be a useful guide for advanced students, academic researchers, scholars and policy makers that are engaged with the issue of informal sector employment.

Carrizosa, Maria, Homes at Work: Urban Informality and Recognition in Latin America and Africa. (Routledge Advances in Regional Economics, Science and Policy) 256 pp. 2023:5 (Routledge, UK) <694-194>
ISBN 978-1-03-228623-5 hard ¥35,612.- (税込) GB￡ 125.00 *

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home became a global phenomenon, yet before 2020, it was a relatively understudied practice. But in informal settlements, the definition of "home" and "employment" is completely intertwined, which is why there is so much to learn from them. For over half a century, mainstream theoretical approaches to urban informality, dominated by development economics, often fail to see this economic and spatial phenomenon jointly. Labor studies tend to be space-blind and spatial studies often disregard informal employment. Profoundly interdisciplinary, this work connects scholarship in development, public policy, labor studies, and feminist economics, with that in urban studies, planning, housing, architecture, and visual studies.The book walks the reader behind the closed doors of working homes that make the fabric, both social and economic, of most cities. It applies a visual methodology to reveal their "space-use intensity" and quantify the extent to which houses in informal settlements fill their inner pores with economic activity and community services. The research also revisits urban formalization policies in Latin America and Africa, to uncover a fallacious politics of recognition. It ultimately argues for a recognition continuum: an approach to urban informality that is more practical and fairer.The book is of interest to development economists, urban scholars, public policy specialists, time-use researchers, and architects working on housing, employment generation, urban livelihoods, gender studies, and related topics.