A market-based solution

摘要

Squatting under an umbrella bearing an eu logo, a woman in a faded sari dips into her blue unicef bag and pulls out two towels, some toothbrushes and toothpaste, sanitary napkins and a small bottle of disinfectant. She is soon ringed by hagglers wanting her paltry wares for even less than the pittance she asks. Another woman clambers from a bus lugging a sack of flour donated by the World Food Programme. She jostles for space among the throngs of internally displaced Tamils peddling their rations near the hospital in Va-vuniya in the north of Sri Lanka. Just months ago, many of them were treated here for injuries sustained as the Sri Lankan army defeated Tamil Tiger rebels.