Social Capital and the Shadow Economy

Abstract

Viewed in a wider context of paid and unpaid informal economic activities, the shadow economy highlights the little recognized ambivalence of social capital as both potentially positive and negative in outcomes for different groups in the economy. Using a concept of social capital as access to durable networks of actual and virtual resources, as claimed by Pierre Bourdieu, I examine the shadow economy as a source of both resilience and repression, intimately connected to the formal economy and tied to a neo-liberal agenda. I draw from review activities I have previously conducted on the informal economy in disadvantaged neighborhoods and from research on social capital in the economy in a European context.

Keywords:

• shadow economy
• social capital

JEL Classification Codes:

• D73
• E26

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mel Evans

Mel Evans is an associate professor in the Department of Law and Politics at Middlesex University (UK). He has led and conducted research for the European Union regarding social capital and social economy, as well as research for the UK government regarding informal economy and deprived neighborhoods.