Spatial Variations in the Nature of Undeclared Work and its Public Policy Implications

It has been recently revealed that depicting undeclared work as everywhere composed of income-oriented market-like work over-simplifies and obscures its heterogeneous meanings and spatially variable nature. Although the undeclared work of people living in affluent areas is predominantly income-oriented market-like work, such work for people inhabiting deprived neighbourhoods is largely composed of community-oriented work akin to paid mutual aid. This paper explores the implications for public policy of this reading of its geographical variations. The outcome is a proposal for a geographically sensitive twin-track policy approach appreciative of the spatially variable nature of undeclared work