Planet Money gives us the surprising economy of a displacement camp in Haiti:

At the beginning, it was the basics, food, water, clothes. Then business expanded beyond the essentials. A week after the earthquake, Yoleen Samard went to her old salon, which had collapsed entirely, and rescued whatever beauty products she could. She brought them back.

Her husband cleaned out a space in their tent, and now she’s in business.

These customers, both 18 years old, say they can convince their parents to pay for a pedicure about every two weeks.

Hat tip to Andy Rasmussen, who writes:

I once talked to a refugee kid from the Central African Republic living in a camp in southern Chad and asked him if he could do anything to make money. “I rent DVD’s.”

…None of this should make anyone think that displaced persons aren’t in desperate shape. But also don’t make the assumption that everybody’s just sitting around either.