Abstract

OLMEDO COLARTE, Carlos Alejandro. The socio-political dimension of economic informality in Paraguay. Exploring the infringement culture. Acad. (Asunción) [online]. 2019, vol.6, n.1, pp.81-87. ISSN 2414-8938.  https://doi.org/10.30545/academo.2019.ene-jun.9.

This article engages with economic informality in Paraguay. In doing so, it is especially concerned with pushing forward the boundaries of the debate beyond the mainstream view of this phenomenon, namely, its legal and regulatory perspective. In this attempt, through a review and analysis of the existing literature the article aims to explore the socio-political dimension of economic informality and, specifically, the so-called 'infringement culture'. The infringement culture is problematic since it implies the normalization of an infringing conduct on a large-scale. Indeed, the non-observance of the law at a massive scale carries with it a strong message of political illegitimacy. Thus, this article suggests that when studying the 'underground economy' what is needed is a holistic approach capable of addressing this issue in greater depth without exhausting the analysis on the more superficial manifestations of it. This, in turn, would help guide policies designed to promote the formalization of the economy in Paraguay.

Keywords : Economic informality; political illegitimacy; socio-political dimension.

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