Levebrödet : Den informella ekonomin i 1930-talets Dalarna

Sammanfattning: This dissertation is a study of the informal economy, and analyses incomes, consumption and housework in 86 households in different social groups, during the year 1933. The study is based on primary material from an investigation of the costs of living, wich was carried out during the entire year, and tax assessment records for the same period. Determining what belonged to the informal economy are the incomes that are accounted for in the primary material but not in the official and public assessment records.The informal incomes were quite varied and came from odd jobs, boarding, lodging etc., even if there was a connection between informal incomes and incomes in kind. The middle-class benefitted from informal incomes in cash as well as fringe benefits. The informal incomes of the rural population mainly came from small scale production for the households own use. The working-class and salaried employees on their part were almost totally dependent on formal incomes from wage labour.Informal income was on average 15% of the formal one, but there were great variations between different social groups, as well as between individual households. Low-income households worked most with informal housework in order to reduce their expenses, especially the rural population which worked extensivley with small scale production.The informal economy did not reduce differences between households and social groups. Rather it strengthened the differences in pecuniary as well as qualitative terms. On the whole the informal economy was of little importance and no alternative to the formal one. In fact it was dependent on the terms of the formal economy and the law and regulations that surrounded the latter.