Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Relationship Between Informality and System Support: A Comparison of Formal and Informal Sector Workers in Mexico and Costa Rica

This study investigates whether employment in either informal or formal work sectors affects the extent to which people have favorable attitudes toward government or choose to participate in political activity in Mexico and Costa Rica. The informal sector includes economic activity based on small-scale, labor intensive work and lies outside the protection of state regulation. The study uses mass surveys in Mexico and Costa Rica. These data provide systematic comparisons of informal and formal sector workers. With the size and growth of the informal sector in Latin America the findings address important questions of political attachment to democratic ideals.