Feedback Control Engineering for Cooperative Community Development: Tools for Financial Management Advice for Low-Income Individuals

Individuals who manage their financial life to "make ends meet" have a complicated decision-making task. Their challenge is especially arduous if they live in an underprivileged community and have very low income (that is, they are part of the 10.7% of the world's population that survives on under $1.90 per day [1]). Most individuals in this situation are self-employed and face uncertain income levels (that is, they are day laborers and only hired periodically). They have inefficient or even nonexistent health services in their community and possibly poor available educational training. Furthermore, they may not have the financial services like insurance to help them cope with sudden and unpredictable events or "shocks" (the effects of adverse weather on crops).