Multinational companies increasingly focus on subsistence marketplaces, given their enormous market potential. Nevertheless, their potential is untapped because subsistence consumers face extreme constraints. The authors contend that subsistence consumers need marketplace literacy to effectively and beneficially participate in marketplaces. Marketplace literacy entails the knowledge and skills that enable them to participate in a marketplace both as a consumer and as an entrepreneur. This is crucial for subsistence consumers, as they often need to function in both roles to survive. Past research, however, has not empirically examined the influence of marketplace literacy on wellbeing or marketing outcomes related to wellbeing. To address this gap, the authors implemented three large-scale field experiments with approximately 1,000 people in 34 remote villages in India and Tanzania. They find that marketplace literacy causes an increase in psychological wellbeing and consumer outcomes related to wellbeing (e.g., consumer confidence and decision-making ability), especially for subsistence consumers with lower marketplace access, whereas it causes an increase in entrepreneurial outcomes related to wellbeing (e.g., starting a microenterprise) for those with higher marketplace access. Overall, this research generates practical implications for the use of marketplace literacy as a pathway to a better world.

鉴于跨国公司的巨大市场潜力，它们越来越关注生存市场。然而，由于自给型消费者面临极端限制，因此他们的潜力尚未开发。作者认为，自给自足的消费者需要市场素养有效和有益地参与市场。市场素养需要使他们能够以消费者和企业家身份参与市场的知识和技能。这对于自给型消费者至关重要，因为他们通常需要同时扮演两种角色才能生存。但是，过去的研究并未凭经验检验市场素养对幸福感或与幸福感相关的营销结果的影响。为了解决这一差距，作者在印度和坦桑尼亚的34个偏远村庄中对大约1000人进行了三个大规模的野外试验。他们发现，市场素养会导致心理健康和与健康相关的消费者结果（例如，消费者信心和决策能力）的提高，尤其是对于那些市场准入较低的自给型消费者，而对于市场准入较高的人们来说，这会增加与福祉相关的创业成果（例如，启动微型企业）。总体而言，这项研究对使用市场素养作为通往更美好世界的途径产生了实际意义。