of how these traditional trading institutions function. Unfortunately, by

geographers' own assessments, much of this research suffers from the inability

to offer normative solutions to questions concerning policy and planning of

marketing systems (7,8).

 Anthropologists and sociologists have observed and described rural house-

hold behavior relative to combinations of production, consumption, storage and

sales decisions. Anthropologists also have a tradition of conducting individual

village studies. Although these studies provide valuable descriptive informa-

tion about rural populations and economic processes, they rarely contain

analyses which lead directly to policy recommendations. Currently, a group of

economic anthropologists are seeking to use concepts from regional science

and geographical models to put their village studies into a more useful frame-

work for understanding and promoting development. In a review article, Carol

Smith concludes "...without the regional system context that geographical models

can provide, anthropological marketing studies will not tell us a great deal

more than we already know about the economic determinants of peasant behavior" (9).

Feasibility Studies.

 Feasibility studies have been done to provide information needed by govern-

ment agencies, international financial institutions and private sector in-

vestors regarding capital investments in marketing infrastructure, e.g. pro-

cessing plants, wholesale markets, grain storage, and transportation facilities.

These studies have varied widely in scope and quality of analysis. Most have

been carried out by private consulting firms or professionals associated with

university-based research institutes. The analyses are typically focused on the

economic feasibility of a proposed project involving a large capital investment.

Due to severe time constraints heavy reliance is usually placed upon the

use of available secondary data, engineering estimation procedures and the