Pantheon Books
Titles appearing in Reference — Research Book News — December 2011
Stealth of nations; the global rise of the informal economy.
Neuwirth, Robert.
Pantheon Books, ©2011 290 p. $25.95 HD2341
978-0-375-42489-2
The author of Shadow Cities takes his title from Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. Neuwirth uses the term "system D" for informal markets of the global stealth market — street markets and unlicensed bazaars who typically do not pay taxes — from slang French for resourceful people. He discusses motivations for, and examples of, this vibrant alternative economy, e.g., public takeover of a bus system abandoned by the official bureaucracy. Provocatively, he contends that pirated high-tech products level the technological divide in poorer countries. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
