Poor Economics Audiobook By Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo cover art

Poor Economics

A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty

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Poor Economics

By: Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo
Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
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Billions of government dollars, and thousands of charitable organizations and NGOs, are dedicated to helping the world’s poor. But much of their work is based on assumptions that are untested generalizations at best, harmful misperceptions at worst.

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo have pioneered the use of randomized control trials in development economics. Work based on these principles, supervised by the Poverty Action Lab, is being carried out in dozens of countries. Drawing on this and their 15 years of research from Chile to India, Kenya to Indonesia, they have identified wholly new aspects of the behavior of poor people, their needs, and the way that aid or financial investment can affect their lives. Their work defies 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.

This important book illuminates how the poor live, and offers all of us an opportunity to think of a world beyond poverty.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2011 Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo. (P)2011 HighBridge Company Business Development & Entrepreneurship Economics Poverty & Homelessness Social Sciences Business Africa Social justice Latin America Inspiring Thought-Provoking Capitalism International Development

Critic reviews

“Reads like a version of Freakonomics for the poor.” ( Fast Company)
“A must... for anyone who cares about world poverty. Poor Economics represents the best that economics has to offer.” (Steven D. Levitt, author of Freakonomics)
“A marvelously insightful book by two outstanding researchers on the real nature of poverty.” (Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics)
Evidence-based Approach • Fascinating Information • Easy Narrator • Balanced Perspective • Practical Solutions
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The book was enlightening for someone who is both an entrepreneur and a former bureaucrat.Wish I read this book much earlier

Informative and insightful

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Anyone interested in helping developing countries or underserved communities need to read this book. If you are interested in micro lending, there’s a section that deals with when it has and hasn’t worked and why. If you are involved in policy making, there are very practical suggestions on how to improve implementation. If you are disheartened in humanitarian work, this will give insight into why it hasn’t adjusted worked and how it can be done better. This very pragmatic approach looks at different view points from Easterly to Sachs and share the results of extensive studies to see what actually influences the decisions of the poor, why well intended policies fail, and how progress can be made without overturning an entire government regime. If you are involved in nonprofit work, a social enterprise, a government position, or just a well meaning person who wants to help where you can, read this book! It’s from an economists point of view-but told in simple terms with loads of evidence and grounded in true stories from 18 countries. It’s a great mix of theory exploration to practical suggestions.

Required reading for anyone who wants to help

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A great contribution towards the economic debate and a refreshing take on how poverty affects a vast amount of people in developing countries. However, the points and principles behind are transferable to the impoverished areas of the developed countries that can not seem to break the poverty cycle.

Great reshaping of how to view economics from a bottom-up perspective

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The experimental approach to understanding poverty highlights subtleties I didn't appreciate previously. Very enriching experience. The authors don't get carried away to jump to a conclusion quickly, so you might have to be patient with that.

Subtle and Balanced

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Michael, audible concierge, recommended this book time. It is awesome. It talks of statistically test, sampling and most of using decoys to check of promises are kept by Government or NGO. It recommended the policy makers to ask the population they serve instead assuming what they need but ask first. Policy before politics. Statistically prove the needs before policy and politics. The economic discussions were not panacea but tested actions which government expected to work without asking the population. He talked about the entrepreneurship of the poor and how it successes or fails. I plan to read this book again and use it as reference for a social venture. A MUST READ FOR ANYONE IN SOCIETY who have the helping heart.

Economic that work action for positive change for all

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Like the way authors presented their study in various parts of the world in RCTs.
One thing that their research needs to cover is how to deal with limited pie that poor has to share. For example, deworming a child will help them gain 20% more income BUT if all kids are dewormed, all of them will NOT have a 20% jump in income.

Amazing story line to explain ideas

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Challenging book, certainly no easy answers to take away. A bit dry in parts - requires your concentration - but the research findings are quite astonishing at times.
If you're looking for a simple ideology on poverty and aid, look somewhere else. If you're willing to dig in and navigate your way through the nuances then this might be for you.

Intelligent, often counter-intuitive and leaves more questions than answers

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Amazing author and the perfect man to read it. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about the world outside of our comfort zone.

Wonderful Experience

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Muy buen libro, basado en estudios estadísticos que nos llevan a reformular el conocimiento que tenemos sobre cómo y porqué toma las decisiones que toma la gente menos favorecida económicamente.

Datos que reemplazan la intuición

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Good book, but it's a lot of information to take in. I would have liked to see more information that was U.S. based.

Insight to the Poor

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