The Economic crisis is affecting the world. Underdeveloped countries who have been struggling to improve their economic and living conditions are taking steps backwards due to this world financial crisis.

WIDE ANGLE explores these issues in Ethiopia in "The Market Maker." Eleni Gabre-Madhin, an Ethiopian Economist, has been trying to "end hunger in her famine-plagued" country. Most underdeveloped countries seek foreign aid to assist them; instead she "designed the nation's first commodities exchange," Gabre-Madhin, which began in April 2008. This is to improve Ethiopians' old market system that resulted in the food shortages.

Having established a system of trading sites in rural villages, she is trying to maintain the machinery that keeps her country fed while facing daunting obstacles ranging from leaky warehouses to powerful special interests to antiquated farming practices, poor infrastructure and an unpredictable climate -- not to mention a global economic crisis.

Discover Eleni's persistence and dedication to her country during harsh times in Wide Angle: "The Market Maker" on PBS July 22 at 10pm ET.