Livelihoods and production cycles in the Malagasy artisanal ruby-sapphire trade: A critical examination

Laurent E. Cartier

Resources Policy, 2009, vol. 34, issue 1-2, 80-86

Abstract: This paper examines the livelihoods of artisanal ruby and sapphire miners in Madagascar, with a special emphasis on how market factors influence operators. For these stones specifically, the link between miner vulnerability, artificial treatment and buyer presence is examined. Vulnerabilities related to miners' livelihoods arise because of the specific mining and processing practices related to these stones, as well as other factors such as corruption, rural marginalization and poverty. The paper also investigates alternative livelihoods and the idea of including and accepting the dynamic buyer into the 'mining community'.

Keywords: Artisanal; mining; Madagascar; Supply; chain; Livelihoods; Ruby; Sapphire (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4207(08)00066-4
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:34:y:2009:i:1-2:p:80-86

Access Statistics for this article

Resources Policy is currently edited by R. G. Eggert

More articles in Resources Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().