The Informal Economy: Studies in Advanced and Less Developed CountriesA New York roofer requests payment in cash. A Bogota car mechanic sets up shop on a quiet side street. Four Mexican immigrants assemble semiconductors in a San Diego home. A Leningrad doctor sells needed medicine to a desperate patient. All are part of a growing worldwide phenomenon that is widely known but little understood. The informal or underground economy is thriving today, not only in the Third World countries where it was first reported and