Poor economics : a radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty / Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Banerjee, Abhijit V., 1961-

Contributor:

Duflo, Esther, 1972-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic assistance--Developing countries.

Economic assistance.

Developing countries.

Poverty--Prevention.

Poverty.

Physical Description:

xi, 303 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : PublicAffairs, [2011]

Summary:

"Billions of government dollars, and thousands of charitable organizations and NGOs, are dedicated to helping the world's poor. But much of the work they do is based on assumptions that are untested generalizations at best, flat out harmful misperceptions at worst. Banerjee and Duflo have pioneered the use of randomized control trials in development economics. Work based on these principles, supervised by the Poverty Action Lab at MIT, is being carried out in dozens of countries. Their work transforms certain presumptions: that microfinance is a cure-all, that schooling equals learning, that poverty at the level of 99 cents a day is just a more extreme version of the experience any of us have when our income falls uncomfortably low. Throughout, the authors emphasize that life for the poor is simply not like life for everyone else: it is a much more perilous adventure, denied many of the cushions and advantages that are routinely provided to the more affluent"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I Private Lives

2 A Billion Hungry People? 19

3 Low-Hanging Fruit for Better (Global) Health? 41

4 Top of the Class 71

5 PakSudarno's Big Family 103

Part II Institutions

6 Barefoot Hedge-Fund Managers 133

7 The Men from Kabul and the Eunuchs of India: The (Not So) Simple Economics of Lending to the Poor 157

8 Saving Brick by Brick 183

9 Reluctant Entrepreneurs 205

10 Policies, Politics 235.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781586487980

1586487981

9781610390934

OCLC:

317925786