Poor Economics
A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty
by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
Published by: PublicAffairs, 2011
Genre: Nonfiction | Business & Economics, Management & Leadership
Page Count: 320 (Paperback)
Audiobook Length: 11 hours and 30 minutes
Audiobook Narrator: Brian Holsopple
ISBN: 9781610390934
Publisher’s Description
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics upend the most common assumptions about how economics works in this gripping and disruptive portrait of how poor people actually live.
Why do the poor borrow to save? Why do they miss out on free life-saving immunizations, but pay for unnecessary drugs? In Poor Economics, Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, two award-winning MIT professors, answer these questions based on years of field research from around the world. Called “marvelous, rewarding” by the Wall Street Journal, the book offers a radical rethinking of the economics of poverty and an intimate view of life on 99 cents a day. Poor Economics shows that creating a world without poverty begins with understanding the daily decisions facing the poor.
About the Author
Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo are economists known for their influential work in the field of development economics. They are a married couple and both professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2019, they were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, along with Michael Kremer, for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.
Their research often involves conducting field experiments to study the effectiveness of various policies and interventions aimed at reducing poverty and improving economic outcomes in developing countries. They co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT, which is dedicated to promoting the use of randomized controlled trials in economics to evaluate the impact of social policies. Their work has significantly influenced the understanding of economic development and poverty alleviation strategies.