Ulaanbaatar
New paper on Mongolia’s informal economy released
SocietyUlaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Through its partnership with the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Asia Foundation (AF) Thursday released the latest paper in the Partnership Working Paper series.
The third paper in the series, The Informal Economy in Ulaanbaatar: Policy Options to Promote Growth in the Ger Areas, focuses on the economic environment in Ulaanbaatar’s unplanned settlements.
With city leadership committed to accelerating inclusive growth to spur overall development, greater attention to the informal economy, its role in the city’s overall economy, and how those businesses in the informal sector might develop is essential. Yet, in recent years, minimal research has been done on Ulaanbaatar’s informal economy. The paper takes a step toward addressing this important gap, updating some of what is understood about the informal sector, how it engages with the formal economy, and how the sector is currently governed in Ulaanbaatar. In doing so, the report provides preliminary policy recommendations for donors and local actors to consider.
This ongoing DFAT-Foundation Working Paper series will inform the broader international community by helping to better ground discussion in empirical evidence, advance theoretical debates, and ultimately improve development policy and practice across a variety of subject areas.
The aim of the series is to draw on and share the rich lessons being learned through the country and regional programs that are implemented under the DFAT-Foundation partnership. The partnership is a new form of collaboration aimed at supporting program and policy innovation that can improve aid effectiveness in the Asia-Pacific. The primary purpose of the partnership is to develop, test, and promote cost-effective innovations that increase the impact of development assistance and respond to the dynamic and evolving needs of the region. Earlier papers in the series focused on public land disputes in Vietnam and strategic uses of data for urban development in Asian cities.
The AF is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia. Informed by six decades of experience and deep local expertise, our programs address critical issues affecting Asia in the 21st century--governance and law, economic development, women’s empowerment, environment, and regional cooperation.
