What a refugee camp reveals about economics

It is Malawi’s rainy season and smartly dressed worshippers are spilling out from church. Couples, arm-in-arm, dodge potholes as they progress down the street. The migration moves past clothes shops and bars, losing stragglers to afternoon drinking, until it meets a plane of dirt, where thousands await a football match. A thin film of dust kicked up by the players settles on the churchgoers’ pale dress shirts and floral skirts. The scene looks like a typical Sunday. But in Dzaleka, a camp that has held refugees from central African wars since 1994, there is a difference: people are not resting after a hard week of work.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The $9 question”