São Paulo’s informal entrepreneurs have innovated to adapt to COVID-19, but their underlying vulnerability is nothing to celebrate

Sao Paulo’s many informal workers, like those in the rest of Brazil, have reacted to COVID-19 with impressive speed and agility. As demand for products like masks, gloves, and sanitiser has soared, small-scale production has been ramped up and new solutions have been found for logistics and marketing. But ultimately the mother of this invention is dire necessity, and the confused and contradictory response of the Brazilian state has done little to mitigate the precarious conditions that informal workers face day-to-day, write Kaue Lopes dos Santos (University of Sao Paulo & LSE Latin America and Caribbean Centre), Jonatas Santos (University of Sao Paulo), and Larissa Santos (University of British Columbia).