Exchange and Markets in Early Economic Development

The idea of an informal economy emerged from, and is a critique of, the ideology of economic development. It originated from Keith Harts recognition of informal economic activity in 1960s Ghana. In the context of four colonialisms German, British, Australian and Dutch this book recounts Harts effort in 1972 to introduce the informal sector into development planning in Papua New Guinea. This was problematic, because the market was scarcely institutionalized, and traditional modes of exchange persisted stubbornly. Rather than conforming with post-colonial economic ideology, the subjected people pushed back against imposed bureaucracy to practice informal and hybrid modes of economic activity.