Document Type
Research Article - Refereed
Abstract
Health is a major challenge for people who live in subsistence because poverty heightens exposure to disease and weakens access to care. Yet it has received limited and fragmented attention in subsistence marketplaces research. Health decisions are made within the same trade-offs, uncertainty, unfamiliarity and relational exchange that shape other subsistence consumption. At the same time, health also goes beyond other mundane consumption decisions: it demands abstract causal reasoning, carries heightened vulnerability, and depends on information and trust that consumers cannot easily verify. Therefore, this paper argues that health should be treated as a core area of study in subsistence marketplaces, with particular attention to how market forces shape who can access, afford and benefit from health goods and services. The paper outlines four directions for future research: (1) over-the-counter medicine use, (2) traditional and Indigenous health knowledge, (3) health systems and (4) marketplace exclusion in health. It then shows how these four directions are connected to major health challenges.
Recommended Citation
Gallage, Samanthika Dr
(2026)
"Refereed Research - Health Is the Greatest Wealth: A Research Agenda for Subsistence Marketplaces,"
Subsistence Marketplaces: Vol. 2:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/subsistencemarketplaces/vol2/iss1/3
Included in
Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons, Growth and Development Commons, Income Distribution Commons, Industrial and Product Design Commons, Marketing Commons, Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons, Social Welfare Commons, Sociology Commons