A matrix approach to informal markets: towards a dynamic conceptualisation

Informal economy is more than the formalised economy a dynamic environment. It is less limited by legal rules, state control, bureaucracy or tax regulation. On the other hand the informal market is less visible than the regular economy. The aim of this article is to find out how informal markets develop nowadays. To do it in a structural way, we used a key of variables that could be interesting to study. We handle the disciplinary interaction and the need for a multidisciplinary discourse; the position of government as fundamental variable for the existence of informal economy; the general global economic dynamics and its implications for the concept informal economy; the interplay of formal, informal and criminal markets; the functionalities of informal markets next to the classic survival economy; the dangerousness of wrong perceptions of informal markets and finally the contribution of different methodologies to the knowledge of the informal economy. The key is incomplete and asks for adjustment but we think it is a start for comparable analyses of informal markets in time and space without being stuck in a strict and limiting definition