The conventional depiction of the prevalence, character and motives of informal sector entrepreneurs, here termed the ‘marginalization thesis,’ has been that informal entrepreneurs are a small, insignificant minority of all entrepreneurs, are more likely than formal entrepreneurs to belong to marginalized groups and are more likely to be necessity-driven entrepreneurs. To evaluate critically this marginalization thesis, evidence is here reported from a 2017 survey of entrepreneurs in Kosovo. This reveals that 42.5 percent of entrepreneurs are informal entrepreneurs, that only some characteristics of marginalized populations are more prominent among informal than formal entrepreneurs (e.g., low educational level, deprived households) but others are not significantly associated (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity), and that although informal entrepreneurs are more likely than formal entrepreneurs to be necessity-driven, only fourteen percent of informal entrepreneurs are purely necessity-driven. The outcome is a call to recognize the prevalence of informal sector entrepreneurship, the heterogeneous groups engaged in informal entrepreneurship and the existence of opportunity-drivers among informal entrepreneurs. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed.

中文翻译：

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超越边缘化论点：对科索沃非正规部门企业家的流行、特征和动机的评估

对非正规部门企业家的普遍性、特征和动机的传统描述（这里称为“边缘化论点”）是，非正规企业家在所有企业家中占少数，比正规企业家更有可能属于边缘化群体，并且更有可能是需要驱动的企业家。为了批判性地评估这种边缘化论点，这里报告了 2017 年对科索沃企业家的调查的证据。这表明 42.5% 的企业家是非正规企业家，只有边缘化人群的某些特征在非正规企业家中比正规企业家更突出（例如，教育水平低、家庭贫困），而其他特征则没有显着相关性（例如，性别、年龄、种族), 并且虽然非正规企业家比正规企业家更有可能是需要驱动的，但只有 14% 的非正规企业家是纯粹的需要驱动。其结果是呼吁承认非正规部门创业的普遍性、从事非正规创业的异质群体以及非正规企业家中存在的机会驱动因素。然后讨论了理论和政策影响。