Philly Biz Leaders’ Must-Read Books of 2018: ‘This unique work collaborates with more than two hundred scholars across the globe, illustrating how informal practices are deeply embedded across the planet, playing a crucial role in truly “getting anything done” while still remaining underestimated in policy-making procedures and business life. The book puts international human behavior into perspective, and is wholly mesmerizing.’
Philadelphia Magazine

‘Suited for graduate students, scholars, and professionals. Recommended.’
Choice

‘This unique work collaborates with more than two hundred scholars across the globe, illustrating how informal practices are deeply embedded across the planet, playing a crucial role in truly “getting anything done” while still remaining underestimated in policy-making procedures and business life. The book puts international human behavior into perspective, and is wholly mesmerizing.’
Philly Biz Leaders’ Must-Read Books of 2018, Philadelphia Magazine

‘The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality represents the beginning of a new era in informality studies. With its wealth of information, diversity, scope, theoretical innovation and artistic skill, this collection touches on all the aspects of social and cultural complexity that need to be integrated into policy thinking.’ – Predrag Cvetičanin

‘An impressive, informative, and intriguing collection. With evident passion and patience, the team of 250 researchers insightfully portrays the multiplicity of informal and often invisible expressions of human interdependence.’
Subi Rangan, Professor of Strategy and Management, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France

‘Don’t mistake these weighty volumes for anything directory-like or anonymous. This wonderful collection of short essays, penned by many of the single best experts in their fields, puts the reader squarely in the kinds of conversations culled only after years of friendship, trust, and with the keen eye of the practiced observer. Perhaps most importantly, the remarkably wide range of offerings lets us ‘de-parochialise’ corruption, and detach it from the usual hyper-local and cultural explanations. The reader, in the end, is the one invited to consider the many and striking commonalities.’ – Bruce Grant, Professor at New York University and Chair of the US National Council for East European and Eurasian Research

‘This compendium of terms used in different cultures to express aspects of informal economy provides unique supplement to studies of a major yet badly understated by academic economics’ social issue. It will be of major significance for in-depth teaching of sociology, economics and history.’
Teodor Shanin, OBE Professor and President of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences

‘Alena Ledeneva’s Global Encyclopedia of Informality is a unique contribution, providing a global atlas of informal practices through the contributions of over 200 scholars across the world. It is far more rewarding for the reader to discover how commonalities of informal behavior become apparent through this rich texture like a complex and hidden pattern behind local colors than to presume top down universal benchmarks of good versus bad behavior. This book is a plea against reductionist approaches of mathematics in social science in general, and corruption studies in particular and makes a great read, as well as an indispensable guide to understand the cultural richness of the world.’ – Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin