Entrepreneurs of emotions: evidence from street vending in India

Street vending is an important source of self-employment for the urban poor. I combine observational, survey, and experimental data from Delhi to study this market. Partnering with vendors to randomize prices and passersby they solicit, I find that even with identical goods, child vendors are 97% more likely to make a sale and earn 2x more than adult vendors. Despite no differences in valuations, couples and women are 90% and 28% more likely to buy than men and they are targeted more often and quoted higher prices. I show that sellers strategically leverage insights about social preferences to influence buyer decision-making.