A Economia e mercados transfronteiriça na África Ocidental: “Lumos” (feiras livres) na Tríplice Fronteira – leste da Guiné-Bissau, sudoeste da República da Guiné e sul do Senegal

Abstract

The present thesis continues the research work that the author has been developing on the informal economy and, in particular, on informal markets/domestic and cross-border lumos. The work focused on four cross-border lumens considered of major importance in commercial transactions in the sub-region, located in the eastern part of Guinea-Bissau, in the Triple Frontier— on the axis connecting Cambadju in Guinea-Bissau with Diaobé in Senegal, and the axis connecting Pitche in Guinea-Bissau with Sareboido in the Republic of Guinea, since the economic activities of the informal sector have played an important role in improving the living conditions of the population of the region. Following the implementation of the structural adjustment policy in these three countries, the informal sector of the economy has come to play an important role in social cohesion and poverty alleviation, since it absorbs part of the population to which the formal system of the economy was unable to guarantee employment. In this sense, the lumos have become major centers of commercial transactions in rural areas and semi-urban localities. The thesis aims to understand how commercial transactions are organized in the lumos, as well as the processes of crossing goods and local products at the borders, the mobility and plasticity at the border, and the de-concentrated services of the state of the countries at the borders. In parallel, the thesis analyzes the diversity and complexity of social relations and networks formed in the region to ensure informal employment and fast turnover speed of commercial transactions in the lumos.