The economics of street vendors

We see them along the streets when we go to and from our place of work. Sometimes we buy from them, sometimes we disregard them and some even become our friends when we become a regular customer. Typically, street vendors are necessity entrepreneurs because they decided to start a business because employment options are not enough or unsatisfactory.

Street vending can be a lucrative business if you'd be able to find a product that will capture the market's interest. But it also pose a few problems to the vendor and society as well. Vendors are exposed to physical hazards on the street and to many different pathogens and pollutants that can pose great risks to their health. A major problem for street vending is uncertainty , since they do not have a fixed place to sell their products and they are considered illegal. If left unchecked by authorities, unsanitary practices can proliferate in these places which can affect the health of buyers and the image of a society.

In some countries street vendors have been made legal so as to give protection to this informal sector of the economy as well as allowing them to be part of nation-building through the taxes that they pay.