''Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty'' (2011) is a

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with bei ...

book by Abhijit V. Banerjee and

Esther Duflo Esther Duflo, FBA (; born 25 October 1972) is a French– American economist who is a professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is the co-founder and co-director of the A ...

, both professors of Economics at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

(MIT) and

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...

laureates. The book reports on the effectiveness of solutions to global poverty using an

evidence-based Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence. While seemingly obviously desirable, the proposal has been controversial, with some arguing that results may not specialize to indivi ...

randomized control trial A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical te ...

approach. It won the 2011

Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award ''Financial Times'' Business Book of the Year Award is an annual award given to the best business book of the year as determined by the ''Financial Times''. It aims to find the book that has 'the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern ...

.Andrew Hill
"‘Poor Economics’ takes business book prize"
''Financial Times'', 3 Nov 2011.

Overview

''Poor Economics'' lays out a middle ground between purely market-based solutions to global poverty, versus "grand development plans." It rejects broad generalizations and formulaic thinking. Instead, the authors help to understand how the poor really think and make decisions on such matters as education, healthcare, savings, entrepreneurship, and a variety of other issues. They advocate the use of observation, using rigorous randomized controlled testing on five continents, and most importantly by actually listening to what the poor have to say. Often the answers are startling and counter-intuitive, but make the utmost sense when circumstances are understood. In addition, the universal traps of Ignorance, Ideology, and Inertia often stymie policies and institutions, but may be avoided. From this empirical approach, the authors believe that the best strategies for eradicating poverty can emerge. However, they resist laying out a broad set of conclusions. Instead they draw some simple yet powerful lessons, and believe that small changes can have big effects. The authors conclude on the optimistic note that we are all part of the solution.

Authors

Abhijit V. Banerjee is the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

International

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of Economics at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

and a founder of the

Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fi ...

(J-PAL). He is a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

and the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...

and has been a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

. He has also received the inaugural

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award given to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards in India to r ...

2009 in

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of socie ...

and Economics. He has been featured in

Foreign Policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through mu ...

's Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2011. In 2019, he shared the

with

and

Michael Kremer Michael Robert Kremer (born November 12, 1964) is an American development economist who is University Professor in Economics And Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He is the founding director of the Development Innovation Lab at the Be ...

is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of

Poverty Alleviation Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics clas ...

and

Development Economics Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...

and a founder and director of the

(J-PAL). Duflo has received numerous academic honors and prizes, including the

(2019), the

John Bates Clark Medal The John Bates Clark Medal is awarded by the American Economic Association to "that American economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge." The award is named after the A ...

(2010), and a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

(2009). She has also been featured in

's Top 100 Global Thinkers and Fortune 40 under 40. The two authors married each other in 2015.

Reception

The book has been well received.

Robert Solow Robert Merton Solow, GCIH (; born August 23, 1924) is an American economist whose work on the theory of economic growth culminated in the exogenous growth model named after him. He is currently Emeritus Institute Professor of Economics at the ...

commented: :“Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo are allergic to grand generalizations about the secret of economic development. Instead they appeal to many local observations and experiments to explore how poor people in poor countries actually cope with their poverty: what they know, what they seem (or don't seem) to want, what they expect of themselves and others, and how they make the choices that they can make. Apparently there are plenty of small but meaningful victories to be won, some through private and some through public action, that together could add up to a large gains for the world's poor, and might even start a ball rolling. I was fascinated and convinced.”

Madeleine Bunting Madeleine Clare J. Bunting (born March 1964) is an English writer. She was formerly an associate editor and columnist at '' The Guardian'' newspaper. She has written five works of non-fiction and two novels (''Ceremony of Innocence'' will be pub ...

reviewed the book for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

'', writing: :" anerjee and Duflooffer a refreshingly original take on development, and they are very aware of how they are bringing an entirely new perspective into a subject dominated by big polemics from the likes of Jeffrey Sachs and William Easterly… they are clearly very clever economists and are doing a grand job to enrich their discipline's grasp of complex issues of poverty – so often misunderstood by people who have never been poor."

Nicholas Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof was ...

reviewed the book for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', writing: :"Randomized trials are the hottest thing in the fight against poverty, and two excellent new books have just come out by leaders in the field. One is "Poor Economics," by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo… These terrific books move the debate to the crucial question: What kind of aid works best?" Development economist

William Easterly William Russell Easterly (born September 7, 1957) is an American economist, specializing in economic development. He is a professor of economics at New York University, joint with Africa House, and co-director of NYU’s Development Research Insti ...

reviewed the book for the '' Wall Street Journal'', writing: :"Marvelous, rewarding…'More Than Good Intentions' and 'Poor Economics' are marked by their deep appreciation of the precariousness that colors the lives of poor people as they tiptoe along the margin of survival. But I would give an edge to Mr. Banerjee and Ms. Duflo in this area—the sheer detail and warm sympathy on display reflects a true appreciation of the challenges their subjects face… They have fought to establish a beachhead of honesty and rigor about evidence, evaluation and complexity in an aid world that would prefer to stick to glossy brochures and celebrity photo-ops. For this they deserve to be congratulated—and to be read." James Tooley reviewed the parts of the book about education for ''

Econ Journal Watch ''Econ Journal Watch'' is a semiannual peer-reviewed electronic journal established in 2004. It is published by the Fraser Institute. According its website, the journal publishes comments on articles appearing in other economics journals, essays, r ...

''. Although he was critical of the authors' conclusions in those chapters, he generally praised their overall approach: :''Poor Economics'' "is contextualised with stories of the realities of lives of the poor, with evidence adduced to support or dismiss particular policy proposals. All of the chapters are interesting and challenging...I favour much of their general approach. Experts, I agree, should have to "step out of the office" and get their boots muddy. I'm also in favour of "relying on evidence", and of being judicious, even cautious, with big ideas." ''Poor Economics'' won the 2011

Editions

* ''Poor Economics: Rethinking Poverty And The Ways To End It'', Random House India (25 May 2011). – India edition hardcover. * ''Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty'', PublicAffairs (April 26, 2011). – Foreign edition hardcover. * Electronic and paperback editions.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web, title=Abhijit Banerjee, url=http://www.povertyactionlab.org/banerjee, publisher=The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, accessdate=18 April 2012 {{cite web, title=Academy Members (1780-present), Chapter B, url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf, publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences, accessdate=18 April 2012, page=6 {{cite web, title=Fellows of the Econometric Society, url=http://www.econometricsociety.org/fellows.asp, publisher=The Econometric Society, accessdate=18 April 2012, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210000000/http://www.econometricsociety.org/fellows.asp, archivedate=10 December 2008 {{cite web, title=All Fellows, url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/all?index=b&page=3, publisher=The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, accessdate=18 April 2012 {{cite web, title=Laureates – Infosys Prize 2009, url=http://www.infosys-science-foundation.com/prize/laureates/2009/index.asp, publisher=Infosys Science Foundation, accessdate=18 April 2012 {{cite web, title=The FP Top Global Thinkers, url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=full, work=Foreign Policy, accessdate=18 April 2012, date=December 2011, quote=Foreign Policy presents a unique portrait of 2011's global marketplace of ideas and the thinkers who make them. {{cite web, title=Esther Duflo, url=http://www.povertyactionlab.org/duflo, publisher=The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, accessdate=18 April 2012 {{cite web, title=John Bates Clark Medal, url=http://www.aeaweb.org/honors_awards/clark_medal.php, publisher=American Economic Association, accessdate=18 April 2012 {{cite web, title=Meet the 2009 MacArthur Fellows, url=http://www.macfound.org/fellows/class/2009/, publisher=MacArthur Foundation, accessdate=18 April 2012 {{cite web, title=The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers, url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/11/29/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=0,32, work=Foreign Policy, accessdate=18 April 2012, date=December 2010, quote=Foreign Policy presents a unique portrait of 2010's global marketplace of ideas and the thinkers who make them., url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210003643/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/11/29/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=0,32, archivedate=10 February 2012 {{cite web, title=40 under 40, url=https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/fortune/1010/gallery.40_under_40.fortune/19.html, website=CNN Money, accessdate=18 April 2012, page=19 {{cite web, url=https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2019/10/press-economicsciences2019.pdf, title=The Prize in Economic Sciences 2019, publisher=Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Nobel prize, date=14 October 2019, accessdate=14 October 2019 , language=

External links

Poor Economics
official website 2011 non-fiction books Books about poverty Collaborative non-fiction books PublicAffairs books