Poor Economics cover art

Poor Economics

A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty

Preview

Free with 30-day trial
A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.

Poor Economics

By: Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo
Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $27.99

Buy Now for $27.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.
Cancel

About this listen

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.

©2011 Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo. (P)2011 HighBridge Company
Business Development Economics Poverty & Homelessness 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)

What listeners say about Poor Economics

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

enlightened look at the problems of the poor

An in depth look at problems caused by poverty. With real world analysis and antainable solutions.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great insight into economics of poverty

This provides great insight into development economics. It leans more on the Easterly school of economics (rather than Sachs) and helped me better understand how wealth and empowerment can come from the people themselves through small economic and political nudges. It also provides great first hand sources from their personal experiences in numerous countries on how the poor interact with great/bad policies that were designed to help them.

The book primarily looks at education, microfinance, health, political institutions, and arguments of giving aid based on supply and demand.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It's data based approach changed the way I thought

The book requires concentration but it is so data based you can be confident in its conclusions.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.