In a report published last month, Matt Fellowes of the centrist Brookings Institution documents a "ghetto tax" paid by lower-income consumers in the United States – essentially, proof that poor people in underserved areas pay more for basic goods and services. Sound familiar? In 2002, Allen Hammond (of WRI and NextBillion) and C.K. Prahalad published similar data on the high-cost economy of the poor in Dharavi, India. Prahalad later included these data in his 2004 book. Whether you call it a ghetto tax (Fellowes), poverty penalty (Prahalad), or BOP penalty (Hammond), the central point is the same – poor people are often trapped in poverty because of the high-cost economies in which they live.

Changemakers is at it again. Loyal NextBillionites might remember that Changemakers is an innovation-recognition initiative of Ashoka, the award-winning social entrepreneurship incubator. CM runs contests awarding the best entrepreneurs in a given sector – previous competitions have included How to Improve Health for All and How to Build a More Ethical Society – and the winners each receive $5,000 cash prizes. Talk about incentives!

The latest contest is called How to Provide Affordable Housing, and the contest organizers are eager for more entrants. To be eligible, an organization must be doing actual, on-the-ground work in affordable housing. Winners will be judged based on four factors: innovation, impact, strategy, and sustainability.