Introduction

Abstract

Small-scale trade and smuggling are part of everyday life at many borders. Whenever prosperity along the border differs leading to considerable price differences in the adjacent countries, the border may be used as an economic resource by inhabitants living nearby. Smuggling cigarettes, alcohol and fuel, illegal drugs and pharmaceuticals or the - at first glance - legal transport of commodities such as clothing or electronic devices: trading activities as the above mentioned often compensate for economic shortages that many households suffer from in consequence of difficult external conditions caused e.g. by economic crises or political transformation processes. Therefore, transborder small-scale trade and smuggling are possibilities to cope with stressful periods of biographic transition such as unemployment and poverty. At the same time, transborder small-scale trade and smuggling are an everyday border phenomenon which is part of the normal routine at many borders.