Marketplace vendors, decision-making, and the household in Bolivia

Abstract

In this chapter I describe and analyze the decisions and strategies made by marketplace vendors in Challapata, Oruro, Bolivia, by presenting four detailed case studies. I demonstrate that rather than trying to simply gain a profit in order to accumulate capital, a variety of goals and objectives underlie the way in which vendors operate their businesses. These numerous goals and objectives can be recognized when vendors’ businesses are comprehended as one aspect of household maintenance activities. I conclude that when viewed from this perspective, vendors’ decisions and strategies can be understood to be shaped by moral and social obligations as well as by the rationality of the market.

Citation

Gordon, K.E. (2009), "Marketplace vendors, decision-making, and the household in Bolivia", Wood, D.C. (Ed.) Economic Development, Integration, and Morality in Asia and the Americas (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 29), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 123-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-1281(2009)0000029007