A Right to Survive

This comprehensive report describes and analyzes the business activities of a market in a Philippine town of 15,000 people. Since as much as 90% of most Philippine families' earnings are used to purchase food, these data provide a picture of the important economic processes of the town.

Dr. Szanton's study contains important implications for programs to encourage economic development and to improve nutrition and health in so-called third world nations. As is the case in all developing countries, three-quarters of the people in this town live in poverty, despite educational levels and natural resources that would support a higher standard of living. Such deprivation springs in large part from social institutions, particularly subsistence production and marketing patterns, which limit many individuals to producing no more than will satisfy their immediate needs.

Dr. Szanton's insights into the social and economic operations of the marketing process suggest programs of action which may cope more effectively with the impediments to progress that lie in present production and marketing patterns.