This morning, Tom Ashbrook, the host of On Point (WBUR) spoke with researchers Stuart Rutherford and Daryl Collins and one of their survey participants Lufefe about what it really means to live on $2 a day. Lufefe, along with hundreds of others, participated in a year-long survey of the poor’s financial practices. Rutherford and Collins, along with Jonathan Morduch and Orlanda Ruthven, gathered meticulous financial diaries that demonstrate not only don’t the poor live hand-to-mouth, but they manage their money well enough to save for life’s big emergencies and celebrations. If you visit WBUR’s site, you can listen to the program and also view a series of photos taken in the Langa Township where Lufefe lives and where much of the research was conducted.
Collins and Rutherford’s research is available in Portfolios of the Poor. Visit the book’s web site here: http://www.portfoliosofthepoor.com/
Image Caption: A participant in the “financial diaries” research in Madhupur, Bangladesh, March 2009. Photo: Robin Saidman /VitalEdgeAid.org
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On June 9th, 2009 at 3:42 pm bruno replied:
good photo
On June 10th, 2009 at 9:15 am mauritus replied:
Living on $2 a day…man thats so bad…when i wonder how much food and money we waste in useless things and then think about those people who are struggling. The book gathers meticulous financial diaries that demonstrate not only don’t the poor live hand-to-mouth, but they manage their money well enough to save for life’s big emergencies and celebrations….I thinl there is a lesson to be learned from them…well not to that extent but as we say every little helps and if we could make that little effort to save that little bit…we will surely be contributing towards better years ahead.
On June 15th, 2009 at 1:16 pm N Corral replied:
“save for life’s big emergencies and celebrations” that statement is amazing considering living off of $2 a day!! Now if only the US can make strides towards this.
On June 17th, 2009 at 5:52 am mauritus replied:
Well you know they say…you only know the true value of something when you miss or when you don’t have enough.
Recession has opened the eyes of many people and hopefully if we spend more carefully, we will learn more about how to save.