Book Review: Colin C Williams and Friedrich Schneider, Measuring the Global Shadow Economy: The Prevalence of Informal Work and Labour
Book Review: Colin C Williams and Friedrich Schneider, Measuring the Global Shadow Economy: The Prevalence of Informal Work and Labour
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书评：科林·C·威廉姆斯和弗里德里希·施奈德，《衡量全球影子经济：非正规工作和劳动力的普遍性》
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发表时间：
2020
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通讯作者：
J. Lendrum
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作者：
J. Lendrum
鉴于研究全球影子经济的文献过多，该研究领域的社会学家可能会问：“这个研究体系还可以添加什么？”。然而，威廉姆斯和施奈德做出了回应，让人们注意到四十年来学术界仍然存在的缺陷和不一致。在他们全面而批判性的评论中，他们在两个方面偏离了大部分学术成果。首先，他们不主张采用单一的、占主导地位的衡量方法来量化和解释影子经济及其参与者，而是主张多种方法。其次，在对受影子经济影响的所有群体（包括正规企业、影子经济企业、雇员和客户、经济体、社会和政府）的消极和积极影响进行令人满意的审查时，他们呼吁采取“硬”和“软”相结合的政策方法来解决所有发生在影子中的问题。研究影子经济的学者们了解/了解探索全球经济这一巨大而隐秘部分的方式充满了方法论和理论挑战。但是，威廉姆斯和施奈德以独特的批判视角重新引入了这些持续存在的问题，不仅质疑当前影子定义如何仅与正规经济相关，而且还质疑构建在缺失或不完整的词汇上的词汇（例如不受监管、不规则、非正式等）。衡量全球影子经济分为四个部分。首先，第一部分回顾了间接测量方法，也称为指标方法，用于测量影子经济的规模；其次是直接或调查方法，衡量工作的性质、劳动力的特征和参与者的动机。威廉姆斯和施耐德分别以德国和荷兰为案例研究，研究了当前方法产生的结果，揭示了不同方法如何产生不同的结果。分析表明，这两种测量方法都存在缺陷，并且不应单独使用单一测量方法。由此，威廉姆斯和施耐德鼓励进行更多微观层面的研究，以填补我们集体知识中一些更顽固的空白。 960662WES0010.1177/0950017020960662工作、就业和社会书评 book-review2020
Given the surfeit of literature examining the global shadow economy, sociologists in this field of study might ask: ‘What more could be added to this body of research?’. Yet, Williams and Schneider respond, bringing attention to the deficits and incongruences that remain within the four decades of scholarship. In their comprehensive and critical review, they depart from much of the scholarship in two ways. First, they argue not for a single, dominant method of measurement to quantify and explain the shadow economy and its participants, but rather for multiple methods. And, second, in their satisfying review of negative and positive consequences for all groups affected by the shadow economy, including formal businesses, shadow economy enterprises, employees, and customers, economies, societies, and governments, they call for policy approaches that combine ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to addressing all that which occurs in the shadows. Scholars examining the shadow economy understand/are knowledgeable of the ways that exploring this vast, hidden segment of the global economy are rife with methodological and theoretical challenges. But, Williams and Schneider re-introduce these persistent issues with a unique critical lens that problematizes not only how current shadow definitions exist only relationally to the formal economy, but with a lexicon structured on that which is missing or incomplete (e.g. unregulated, irregular, informal, etc.). Measuring the Global Shadow Economy is organized into four sections. First, Part I reviews indirect measurement methods, also called indicator approaches, which measure the size of the shadow economy; and, next, direct or survey methods, which measure the nature of work, characteristics of the labour force and the motives of participants. With Germany and the Netherlands as respective case studies, Williams and Schneider examine the results produced from current methods, revealing how different methods produce different results. Analyses suggest that neither method of measurement is without its flaws, and a single measure should not be used exclusively. From this, Williams and Schneider encourage more micro-level research to fill some of the more obstinate gaps in our collective knowledge. 960662WES0010.1177/0950017020960662Work, Employment and SocietyBook Review book-review2020