MRI: The Political Economy of the Informal Sector in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Costa Rica, Mexico, and Nicaragua

MRI：拉丁美洲非正规部门的政治经济学：哥斯达黎加、墨西哥和尼加拉瓜的比较研究

• 批准号: 9618123
• 负责人: Edwin Aguilar
• 金额: $ 1.8万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-02-01 至 1998-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9618123&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Political; Economy; Informal; Sector

The informal sector of the economy is that which functions outside of the regulatory reach of the state, where similar activities are regulated. For example, an individual who works as a self-employed jack of all trades, working solely for cash, and not reporting income or economic activities to the state would be classified as an informal sector worker. By way of contrast, an individual who worked for a plumbing service that complied with state regulation, would be classified as a formal sector worker. In this Minority Research Planning Grant the investigator undertakes a preliminary examination of the political attitudes and behavior of informal sector workers in Central America and Mexico, by focusing on three different countries in the region. The countries are chosen in order to maximize differences in terms of regime type. For purposes of this study, Costa Rica serves as a country with a stable, relatively long term democratic regime. Nicaragua serves as a country that can be characterized as a newer, not yet fully consolidated democratic regime. Finally, Mexico serves as a quasi-democratic regime,. which is slowly moving toward a more formal democratic system. In the most general terms, it is hypothesized that political attitudes and behaviors differ significantly between informal sector workers in the three countries because of the different regime types. As a result, the political goals and relevant strategies by which informal sector workers seek to influence their political world will vary from country to country. Given the gap of knowledge that social scientists have regarding the political nature of informal sector workers in general, even a preliminary planning study serves a valuable role for social scientists. The investigator employs open-ended structured interviews in order to collect data and to pre-test survey instrument items to then be employed in a broader future study. The research promises to fill a gap in the political science literature relating to the urban informal sector of Latin America.

非正规经济部门是在国家管制范围之外运作的部门，在那里类似的活动受到管制。 例如，一个个体经营者从事各种行业，只为现金工作，不向国家报告收入或经济活动，将被归类为非正规部门工人。 相比之下，为符合国家规定的管道服务工作的个人将被归类为正式部门工人。 在这项少数民族研究规划补助金中，研究人员通过关注该地区三个不同的国家，对中美洲和墨西哥非正规部门工人的政治态度和行为进行初步研究。 选择这些国家是为了最大限度地扩大制度类型方面的差异。 就本研究而言，哥斯达黎加是一个拥有稳定、相对长期民主制度的国家。 尼加拉瓜可以说是一个较新的、尚未完全巩固的民主政权。 最后，墨西哥是一个准民主政权。它正在慢慢地向更正式的民主制度迈进。 在最一般的条件下，它是假设，政治态度和行为显着不同的非正规部门的工人在这三个国家，因为不同的制度类型。 因此，非正规部门工人试图影响其政治世界的政治目标和相关战略将因国而异。 鉴于社会科学家在非正规部门工人的政治性质方面的知识存在差距，即使是初步的规划研究也可以为社会科学家发挥宝贵的作用。 调查人员采用开放式结构化访谈，以收集数据和预测试调查工具项目，然后在更广泛的未来研究中使用。 这项研究有望填补与拉丁美洲城市非正规部门有关的政治学文献中的一个空白。