Abstract:

Market failures, government failures and some of the characteristics of both the poor and business actors as well as their environment can act as barriers preventing the poor from participating more actively in markets, both as consumers and as producers. Private actors - including for-profit and not-for-profit entities, often in partnership with the public sector - have been able to mitigate some of these constraints through innovations that have helped to make markets more inclusive for the poor, enabling them not just to gain access, but also to participate in ways that enhance their economic empowerment and human development. This article identifies the strategies and innovations used and devises a possible typology for them.

Keywords: Market failure; innovation; inclusive markets; microfinance; m-banking

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7679.2008.00417.x

Affiliations: 1: Respectively, policy analyst and economist, and research associate, in the Office of Development Studies of the United Nations Development Programme, Uganda House, New York, 10017, USA ( )., Email: ronald.mendoza@undp.org