Markets and Health: A Study of Indigenous Populations of Lowland Bolivia

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Abstract 0078801This project will investigate how market integration affects general health and nutrition among three indigenous, Amerindian groups - the Moje-o, Chiquitano, and Tsimane' of the Bolivian lowlands. There is presently little agreement among scholars concerning whether or not market integration (and its presumed "positive" effects on those integrated) actually leads to enhanced well being (in this case measured in terms of health). This project will contribute to that theoretical debate. The researchers hypothesize that markets will allow people to gain access to a broader range of insurance (e.g., credit) and reduce variance in consumption; it is anticipated that lower variance in consumption will be associated with enhanced objective measures of health/ nutritional status, but increased self-reported morbidity. This comparative (cross-cultural) study will examine a range of interacting factors including market-related processes, wealth differences, medical access issues and objective and self-perceived measures of health. It will contribute to our understanding of the material, cultural, and biological drivers of health/nutritional status, as well as to health policy and planning debates for parts of the developing world becoming integrated into regional market economies.