Neoliberalism and Labor Displacement in Panama : Contested Public Space and the Disenfranchisement of Street Vendors

Neoliberalism and Labor Displacement in Panama: Contested Public Space and the Disenfranchisement of Street Vendors examines the simultaneous increase of informal sector employment and decreasing access to space for people making a living in the Panamanian informal economy, particularly street vendors who illustrate the face of informality in countries of the Global South such as Panama. Through the lived experiences and voices of street traders surveyed over twelve years of field research, this book portrays the long-lasting saga and resistance actions of informalized vendors dislocated from their traditional selling points in Panama City’s downtown. María Luisa Amado argues that neoliberal policies, including privatization, labor deregulation, and market-led urban renewal, inflict a double squeeze on working-class Panamanians by reducing opportunities for stable formal sector employment and restricting access to commercially thriving but increasingly gentrified areas of Panama City, historically used for street vending. This book also sheds light on the commoditization and contested nature of public space, discursively contended by competing views of its functions and who has the right to it.