Agricultural Univ.ersity Indonesia.

The idea of informal economy has undoubtedly received an even greater attention not only from the social scientists but also from the political authorities since last few decades. This growing concern is strongly stimulated by the fact that this economic field does have a huge capacity of securing people's survival. As it is widely known, the informal economy has long been cunsidered as one of the essential sources of j livelihood for those who live in the lowest social-economic stratum of a community. It has become an inseparable part of the life of the poor since it made tnem possible of keeping their families alive. Since this economy is strongly associated with marginality and poverty, the informal econoF.ly is sometimes considered as a less prestigious sector. Much is "known that unemployment may lead someone to the situation where the discontent could be very deep. At this situation, the presence of informal economy could provide the less wealthy people with a 'feeling of security ' so that a social unrest resulting from having a feelina of economic insecurity may be reduced. This explained why thp. informal economy is of importance from social-political point of view. Many previous studies showed that this kind of economy is normally run on the basis of small-scale form and less-modern organisation. In its production activity, the informal economy normally uses much simpler technologies. The household is probably the most important institution which serves a fundamental basis for conductin