This important study introduces the conceptual premise that families, like firms, analyze their circumstances, make decisions, and pursue courses of action on the basis of what they perceive to be the most efficient methods for producing and reproducing survival. Combining this premise with an extraordinary assemblage of facts gleaned over the period of a decade from the streets, markets, and homes of Port-au-Prince, the author weaves a tapestry of despair and hope in a provocative yet highly original contribution to the literature.