Hot money, cold beer

Navigating the vanilla and rosewood export economies in northeastern Madagascar

Bibliographic Data

ID2261097
AuthorsAnnah Zhu (0000-0002-0034-1222, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California, Berkeley 130 Mulford Hall, #3114 Berkeley CA 94720), Annah Lake Zhu (0000-0002-0439-6677, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume45
Issue2
Pages253-267
Publication date2018-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Ethnologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/amet.12636
OpenAlexW2803203633
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited32

Since 2000 northeastern Madagascar's subsistence-based communities have registered record profits thanks to a boom in vanilla and rosewood exports. Yet, rather than saving or investing these returns, much of the local earnings were spent in "hot money" sprees on cold beer, gambling, and other forms of immediate consumption. Far from being illogical or unproductive, hot-money spending and other practices associated with export economies help local communities navigate the volatility of global markets and domesticate foreign demands. Although these tactics come from the margins of global capitalism, they represent an acute cultural expression of some of the most sophisticated dynamics found at its core. [export economies,money,tactics,globalization,consumption,vanilla,rosewood,Madagascar

Agriculture · Boom · Capitalism · Consumption (sociology · Earnings · Economics · Economy · Geography · Globalization · Market economy · Politics · Subsistence agriculture · African Studies and Ethnography · Agriculture and Rural Development Research · Finance · French Urban and Social Studies

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