Professor Arielle Newman made the transition from political science to entrepreneurship because she wanted to get away from broad policy prescriptions and move toward bottom-up creative opportunities–particularly for poor and vulnerable communities such as those that she has studied in Ghana.

What did she find in a deep and extensive examination of the reshaping of the Kumasi market to improve public safety for those who work there? An exclusion of those who had made the market what it was through the reconstitution of property rights in ways that violated promises, pro-poor principles, and cultural traditions. The example shows the hard way that what’s essential is a blending of top-down protections and bottom-up innovations.