Consumption, Informal Markets, and the Underground Economy: Hispanic Consumption in South Texas (Palgrave Pivot) - Hardcover

Pisani, M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1137341904 ISBN 13: 9781137341907

Publisher: Palgrave Pivot, 2013

Synopsis

While 'off the books' consumption is not exceptional in the United States, it is much more common and nearly universal along the U.S-Mexico border. Within the border zone of South Texas, consumption informality is in fact a way of life where 98.9% of South Texans surveyed have consumed informal or underground products. For example, households may employ services such as a coyote (human smuggler), a nanny, or a computer technician to clandestinely bring a family member or valued worker across the border, provide care for children, or repair a home computer, respectively, in transactions that go unrecorded and, more often than not, undetected by the government. Consumption, Informal Markets, and the Underground Economy focuses on Hispanic (Latino) consumers from a distinctive region in the United States where informal and underground markets thrive. Using original qualitative ethnographic field interviews and quantitative field survey results, this exciting new volume explores the rationale for and model of 'off the books' consumption in a borderlands environment.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael J. Pisani is Professor of International Business and Jerry and Felicia Campbell Endowed Professor for Research at Central Michigan University, USA. He is an authority in the areas of international business, Mexico, Central America, Latin America, and the United States-Mexican border. He has published more than 75 scholarly papers on international and national management issues in business. His study, "The Maid Trade: Cross-Border Work in South Texas," investigated the domestic servant market in a border community. He received a U.S. Department of Education grant to expand business education at Central Michigan University and provide export training for small businesses.

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1137341904
• ISBN 13: 9781137341907
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 196