If you’re in New York on Thursday, May 7th, don’t forget to RSVP for the launch of Portfolios of the Poor, a new book co-authored by Jonathan Morduch.

Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day is the first book to explain systematically how the poor find solutions and make ends meet on such meager incomes. The authors, Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford and Orlanda Ruthven, report on the yearlong "financial diaries" of villagers and slum dwellers in Bangladesh, India, and South Africa--records that track penny by penny how households manage their money. The stories of these families are often surprising and inspiring. Most poor households do not live hand to mouth, spending what they earn in a desperate bid to keep afloat. Instead, they rely upon an array of surprisingly complex tools, creating "portfolios" that leverage both informal networks and microfinance institutions.

The book debuts on Thursday with a presentation by Jonathan Morduch and Daryl Collins, followed by commentary from Matthew Bishop of the Economist, Bill Easterly, NYU economics professor and author of The White Man’s Burden, and Yaw Nyarko, NYU economics professor.

The launch takes place on May 7th at 6 p.m. RSVP here.