The informal sector of the economy is that which functions outside of the regulatory reach of the state, where similar activities are regulated. For example, an individual who works as a self-employed jack of all trades, working solely for cash, and not reporting income or economic activities to the state would be classified as an informal sector worker. By way of contrast, an individual who worked for a plumbing service that complied with state regulation, would be classified as a formal sector worker. In this Minority Research Planning Grant the investigator undertakes a preliminary examination of the political attitudes and behavior of informal sector workers in Central America and Mexico, by focusing on three different countries in the region. The countries are chosen in order to maximize differences in terms of regime type. For purposes of this study, Costa Rica serves as a country with a stable, relatively long term democratic regime. Nicaragua serves as a country that can be characterized as a newer, not yet fully consolidated democratic regime. Finally, Mexico serves as a quasi-democratic regime,. which is slowly moving toward a more formal democratic system. In the most general terms, it is hypothesized that political attitudes and behaviors differ significantly between informal sector workers in the three countries because of the different regime types. As a result, the political goals and relevant strategies by which informal sector workers seek to influence their political world will vary from country to country. Given the gap of knowledge that social scientists have regarding the political nature of informal sector workers in general, even a preliminary planning study serves a valuable role for social scientists. The investigator employs open-ended structured interviews in order to collect data and to pre-test survey instrument items to then be employed in a broader future study. The research promises to fill a gap in the political science literature relating to the urban informal sector of Latin America.
