china recognizes the power of the informal

This is interesting: India's Economic Times newspaper reports that China and India will collaborate on surveys of each country's informal businesses. The Indian survey will concentrate on Delhi and Surat. The Chinese portion will look at Shanghai and Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province.

While India has strong organizations that advocate for informal workers, it will be interesting to see how China uses the information the surveys will bring forth. Will the world's largest country crack down on the informal in order to gain tax revenue? Or will it take a more pragmatic (and, dare I say, englightened) approach and work to strengthen the unlicensed businesses?