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Working in chains: African informal workers and global value chains

Author

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  • Meagher, Kate
Abstract
This article examines how global value chains alter the processes of value creation by reshaping the institutional systems that govern the livelihoods of poor rural workers in contemporary Africa. In connecting rural workers to distant markets, global value chains reconfigure local modes of organization and resource use, translating and redistributing value in unexpected ways. The capacity of global linkages to resolve problems of rural poverty and disaffection is explored in the context of informal workers in horticultural farms in South Africa and precarious women producers of exotic oil in the Argan forests of south-western Morocco. Particular attention is focused on the mechanisms through which global linkages reconfigure institutional systems in the creation of transnational value chains, realigning labor regimes, livelihoods, and local commercial systems, followed by a consideration of the social tensions created by the economic and organizational realignment needed to make global value chains work.

Suggested Citation

  • Meagher, Kate, 2019. "Working in chains: African informal workers and global value chains," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91590, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:91590
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/91590/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    5. Barrientos, Stephanie & Dolan, Catherine & Tallontire, Anne, 2003. "A Gendered Value Chain Approach to Codes of Conduct in African Horticulture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1511-1526, September.
    6. Meagher, Kate, 2015. "Leaving no-one behind? Informal economies, economic inclusion, and Islamic extremism in Nigeria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62140, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Johanna Mair & Ignasi Marti & Marc Ventresca, 2012. "Building Inclusive Markets in Rural Bangladesh : How Intermediaries Work Institutional Voids," Post-Print hal-02276707, HAL.
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    10. Carr, Marilyn. & Chen, Martha Alter., 2002. "Globalization and the informal economy : how global trade and investment impact on the working poor," ILO Working Papers 993541723402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Johanna Mair & Ignasi Marti & Marc Ventresca, 2012. "Building Inclusive Markets in Rural Bangladesh : How Intermediaries Work Institutional Voids," Post-Print hal-02312706, HAL.
    12. Charles Gore & Kate Meagher, 2015. "Leaving No One Behind?: Informal Economies, Economic Inclusion and Islamic Extremism in Nigeria," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(6), pages 835-855, August.
    13. repec:ilo:ilowps:354172 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Byahut, Rajkumar & Dutta, Sourish & Iyer, Chidambaran G. & Nataraj, Manikantha, 2020. "Commentary on World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains," EconStor Preprints 231380, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Pallavi Roy & Mushtaq H. Khan, 2021. "Digitizing Taxation and Premature Formalization in Developing Countries," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(4), pages 855-877, July.
    3. Jon Phillips & Saska Petrova, 2021. "The materiality of precarity: Gender, race and energy infrastructure in urban South Africa," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(5), pages 1031-1050, August.
    4. Kate Meagher, 2021. "Informality and the Infrastructures of Inclusion: An Introduction," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(4), pages 729-755, July.
    5. Radley, Ben, 2020. "A distributional analysis of artisanal and industrial wage levels and expenditure in the Congolese mining sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106512, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. The Re‐Arrangements Collective & Fabien Cante & Ajmal Hussain & Timo Makori & Surer Qassim Mohamed & Alana Osbourne & Francesca Pilo’ & Kavita Ramakrishnan & AbdouMaliq Simone & Rike Sitas & Adeem Suh, 2023. "MOVEMENT 2. FORMALIZING ARRANGEMENTS: Re‐signification and the Making of Governable Spaces," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 471-482, May.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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