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- author.

Contributor:

Duflo, Esther, 1972-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic assistance--Developing countries.

Economic assistance.

Poverty--Prevention.

Poverty.

Developing countries.

Physical Description:

lvii, 340 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

Second trade paperback edition, revised and updated.

Place of Publication:

New York : PublicAffairs, [2025].

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. The authors 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.

Contents:

Think again, again

A billion hungry people?

Low-hanging fruit for better (global) health?

Top of the class

Pak Sudarno's big family

Barefoot hedge-fund managers

The men from Kabul and the eunuchs of Indian : the (not so) simple economics of lending to the poor

Saving brick by brick

Reluctant entrepreneurs

Policies, politics

In place of a sweeping conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [305]-330) and index.

ISBN:

9781541706187

1541706188

OCLC:

1536059676