Formalization wave

Formalization wave — the predictable shift of a category from informal and unbranded to organized, branded, and institutional as incomes cross trigger levels: sari-sari stores → organized retail ($2k GDP/capita), carinderias → QSR chains ($3–4k), bedspace → branded co-living, moneylenders → consumer credit. Each wave, having already run in richer markets, is an importable pattern with published unit economics — and the PH at ~$4–4.5k GDP per capita sits mid-ignition-zone with several waves running simultaneously.

First used in: 5.7 · Emerging-market pattern arbitrage: the payoff skill