Department: Economics
Faculty Mentor: Melanie Morten, Associate Professor of Economics
Optimizing informal markets
In low-income food markets across Sub-Saharan Africa, small vendors operating side-by-side rarely buy supplies together — even though doing so would lower their costs and boost their margins. Eva will partner with informal retailers and municipal authorities in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire, to understand what stops neighboring vendors from cooperating, and what that means for the prices and options available to low-income shoppers.