"POOR ECONOMICS" Creating Markets: BOU needs POOR SOFTWARE (for BOU BAZAR transactions)
Author(s)
Datta, Shoumen
Date Issued
March 26, 2026
Abstract
Hiding in plain sight is the immense demand for "poor software" from billions of potential impecunious users in nations where "poor economics" is not just the weather of the day but the climate of the century. Unbeknownst to many in the affluent world, billions of users (BOU) who are perhaps capable of paying only pennies (PAPPU - pay a penny per use) are in need of "poor" software for daily (hourly) transactions related to FEWSH (food, energy, water, sanitation, healthcare) marketplaces (BAZAR).
Description
Even the ecclesiastical apparat will be made inconsequential for any intervention if the potential for escalation between the "haves" (1%) and the "have-nots" (99%) may reach eschatological dimensions. There may be a potential bridge over the chasm which separates billions from the billionaires. BOU could be that bridge. Billions of users (BOU) are creating demand for mobile software systems to transact their daily needs. BOU is driven by demographics (~6.5 billion poor people) in Asia and Africa. BOU is characteristic of less affluent nations and it is not usually a part of our discussion, yet this unmet demand is as real as their (and our) daily need for FEWSH (food, energy, water, sanitation, health and wellness). Software innovation in material management systems (SIMMS) may be able to capture transactions in the FEWSH verticals and monetize the system through PAPPU. This article explores ideas with respect to SIMMS helping BOU based on principles of economics and the practice of ethical profitability (however oxymoronic it may sound, ethical profitability may be that metaphorical fulcrum between need and greed).
Subjects
Poor Economics, Software Innovation, Information Asymmetry, Transaction Cost Economics, AI, Agents
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Auto-ID Laboratory
Terms of Use
CC0 1.0 Universal
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