Abstract
Informal economy functions without any formal social control for lack of a supervisory authority. Within a regulated locality the same activities would have an illegal character, but in that deviating situation those informal activities can thrive because the authorities do not intervene. Globalization of our western mixed market economy implies that also the aspect of government control takes on a global character. The fact that formal economies settle in places where an informal market is the rule leads to a combined action which, eventually, creates new market relations. In the present contribution we study the effects of a meeting between a formal and an informal market on the basis of a concrete case. An analysis of the market of medical products in Third World countries gives an idea of the new relations that arise when an informal market of natural medicines is confronted with a formal market of western medicines. We study both the situation in which there are no regulations and the situation in which the formal market is supported by economic regulations. This text illustrates how those situations can give rise to new opportunities for one group and to exploitation for another.
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Vande Walle, G., Ponsaers, P. Formal and informal pharmaceutical economies in Third World countries: Synergetic, symbiotic or parasitical?. Crime Law Soc Change 45, 361–372 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-006-9039-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-006-9039-z