Street capitalism : informal property rights and their enforcement in Bogotá's on-street parking system

Abstract

This thesis explores how informal property rights are defined and enforced in the business of onstreet parking in Bogotá. It establishes that informal businesses could not operate without such property rights and that the value of force has been underestimated in the scant literature devoted to the subject. To contribute to the construction a currently non-existent informal property rights theory this thesis contrasts the research findings with traditional property rights theory and attempts to redefine classic property rights concepts to fit the context of the urban informal economy. Finally, the thesis explains how mafias can enforce informal property rights, the logic of their actions, and the dangers of their proliferation.