“¡Chalinas a 20 Pesos!”: Children’s Economic Ideas Developed Through Selling

Abstract

This article explores the economic ideas of indigenous Triqui children who sold artisanal goods in Oaxaca, Mexico. I approached the investigation of economic ideas by focusing on the ways in which children interacted with customers while trying to sell their goods. Using observations and interviews, I found that as children tried to convince customers to buy goods, they generated spontaneous economic ideas about the value of goods. This study provides an exploratory first step to understanding children’s development of economic ideas through everyday activity and reveals nuances in economic ideas that would otherwise remain hidden.

Notes

¹ There were other commonly sold goods that had higher unit prices than the shawl. I chose the shawls and necklaces for the interview items because they were the most common goods sold.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported here was supported in part by the Institute of Education Sciences predoctoral training grant R305B090026 to the University of California, Berkeley. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent views of the Institute of Education Sciences or the U.S. Department of Education.