Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Ramani, Shyama V.
Author-Email: ramani@ivry.inra.fr
Author-Workplace-Name: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Ecole Polytechnique Paris
Title: Playing in Invisible Markets: Innovations in the Market for Toilets to Harness 
	 the Economic Power of the Poor
Abstract: Sanitation is at the heart of not only environmental security but also 
	 food security and health. Today about 41% of the global population or 
	 about 2.6 billion people do not have access to toilets and about 42,000 
	 people die every week due to drinking water polluted with faecal matter. 
	 The problem is most acute in India, China, many countries of Africa and 
	 a few countries of Latin America. Why is there such a crisis in the 
	 toilets market? How much of the present problem is due to a lack of 
	 supply and how much is it due to a lack of demand? What is the optimal 
	 role of the State, the firms and the NPOs? The present paper attempts to 
	 give some insight on the above questions through the case study of the 
	 market for toilets for the poor in India. It examines the toilet history 
	 and achievements of India, the innovations in the market for toilets 
	 targeting the group at the bottom of the income pyramid and the factors 
	 that influence the adoption and usage of toilets in an Indian coastal 
	 village, in order to infer answers to the above questions.
Classification-JEL: O31, H51, H75, O15, D31, L26
Keywords: Toilets, Innovation, India, Health, Hygiene, Sanitation, BOP,
	 Income Inequality, Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, Government Policy
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 2008
Number: 012
File-URL: http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2008/wp2008-012.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2008012