Category Archives: global
Percentage of prepaid connections – global map 2013 data
Click on the image for the larger version. This is the mapped version of the latest data available on GSMA’s development website*, where you can sort through by region and country. The last available global map didn’t really break it … Continue reading
Exploratory User Research in the Rural Economy
When I first began developing the attributes by which to select representative user profiles for the original fieldwork to begin understanding the “prepaid economy”, that is, household financial management in rural India, The Philippines and Malawi, it was based on … Continue reading
Reflecting on this blog’s genesis after 5 years
I started this blog in late December 2008, in earnest and every day during the first prototype fieldwork for The Prepaid Economy project, one of the iBoP Asia Project’s first batch of Small Grant winners from the ASEAN region. For … Continue reading
The Great Informalisation: About 50% of Indian GDP from unorganized sector
From a special report on India’s economy It might surprise some to know that most of the debates on labour issues in India, including the provision of social security & workplace challenges, actually revolve only around 7% of the total … Continue reading
Global prepaid vs contract subscriber numbers – Mobile Economy 2013
Promoting Africa’s Informal Sector
Organising the informal sector and recognising its role as a profitable activity may contribute to economic development. This can also improve the capacity of informal workers to meet their basic needs by increasing their incomes and strengthening their legal status. … Continue reading
In sum
Irregular income streams from a variety of sources pose their own challenges to both buyers and sellers but offer an opportunity through the flexibility designed into business models for the informal economies where this pattern of cash flow tends to … Continue reading
Bridging the gap: boundary spanners in the informal economy
My recent diversion into exploring the increasing visibility of the informal economy in the developed world has been providing much food for thought on the perceived boundary between the formal and the informal. More so, than in Europe, does the … Continue reading
The Informal Economy Symposium, Barcelona on October 12th 2012
Our aim with this symposium is to explore the global scope, innovations and potential futures of the informal economy. Opening Keynote will be John Keith Hart, who coined the term “informal economy” and the day long symposium on the 12th … Continue reading
The Prepaid Economy Blog 