The Art of Recording: Creating the Base for Governance
Paul van der Molen
All countries host informal economies, sometimes called 'black economies'. In certain countries the size of the informal economy might even exceed that of the formal economy. Living in the informal economy means for citizens that they themselves and their activities are invisible for the government. There might be good reason for citizens to hide for the government, but at the same time they do not participate in the formal society and don't enjoy benefits related to the law. On the other side, governments miss information about which people live in their country and what economically happens. As a result they miss relevant data to develop policies, to monitor implementation and to levy taxes for generating government budget. These governments have no opportunity for evidence based policy making. Therefore the lack of information hampers good governance and thus subsequent state building. This paper aims at analysing the problem, and argues that when surveyors would expand their capacity for administration of land to other recordable subjects and objects, they can substantially enhance their contribution to good governance and state building.
Event: FIG Working Week 2016 : Recovery from Disaster
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