Construct of Social History and Contexts of the Formation and Continuation of the Informal Economy(Market and Cross-Border Trade in Baneh)

Borders are the product of history, politics, and power, and border life has its own economy and culture. Accordingly, one of the most important features of the Kurdish regions, which has been represented in various ways in the media in recent years more than other aspects of border life, is the border and informal economy and specific concepts related to it, namely Kulbar, border bazaar, and smuggling. Understanding this type of economy as a phenomenon requires a careful study of the causes, contexts, and mechanisms that have led to the phenomenon of informal economy in a kind of multifaceted synergy. In this study, among the above factors, the focus is on the contexts that underlie the informal economy. The research method was critical ethnography, the method of collecting information was a combination of methods (interview, conversation, focus group, and documents) and the study context was Baneh border market. Findings showed that the outcome of the conflict of political forces and the border position of Baneh has been a kind of trade and border economy throughout history that after the rise of the modern government, became informal and underwent special changes with regional and global developments. At the same time, the most important contexts of this type of economy can be abstracted into four main categories: environmental problems, resource constraints, cultural affinity, and moderate religious tradition. Finally, based on the findings of the present study, negative and positive solutions are presented.