Sharing the Risk of Being Poor: Communal Savings Games in a Bangkok Slum
By Shlomo Angel, J. H. De Goede, and Ramon C. Sevilla
23 pagesHow rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) work in Bangkok slums.
Called เล่นแชร์ (“Sharing Games”) in Thai, a group of neighbors or family members take turns bidding on a communal pot. The resulting game facilitates efficient peer-to-peer loans without bookkeeping or needing to predict when money will be needed, allowing those living on the margins of society to pool their risks and navigate precarity together.