This volume provides a more detailed and profound understanding of an important and, until recently ignored, global phenomenon marketplaces where individuals living in poverty buy/sell products and services. It is estimated that as many as 4 billion people with buying power exceeding $14 trillion fall into this market segment. Historically, the research in this area was conducted among consumers from industrialized economies. This research is rooted in fundamental assumptions about literacy and numeracy skills, life stability, cognitive predilections, and consumer access to basic resources...

This book is the result of several years of research, curriculum development, and testing of a consumer and entrepreneurial literacy educational program for l- literate, low-income adults in India. Whereas there has been considerable att- tion on micro nancing in recent decades, we describe an educational program that focuses on enabling generic skills about the marketplace and complements these important efforts. We conducted research aimed at understanding lives and m- ketplaces in subsistence contexts in urban and rural parts of a state in South India. We used the research as a basis for...