HBR IdeaCast

A Nobel Prize Winner on Rethinking Poverty (and Business)

Nov 26, 2019

Esther Duflo, an acclaimed MIT economist and 2019 Nobel Prize winner, shares her transformative journey from charity work to reshaping economic policies aimed at alleviating global poverty. She emphasizes the importance of field research, asserting that effective policies often challenge conventional wisdom. Duflo discusses innovative solutions, such as the free distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets in malaria prevention. She highlights recent progress in poverty reduction and the vital role of business leaders in creating impactful change through responsible practices.

27:32

Creator website

Episode guests

Esther Duflo

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

3min

A Journey Through Poverty: From Charity to Systemic Change

10min

Innovative Solutions in Malaria Prevention

2min

Progress and Optimism in Combating Poverty

4min

Business Leadership and Poverty Alleviation

11min

Exploring Economic Solutions to Poverty

2min

Esther Duflo, an MIT economist, won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for her experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Duflo’s early life working at a non-governmental organization in Madagascar and volunteering in soup kitchens in her native France inspired her to study economics and research the root causes of poverty. With her fellow Nobel winners Abhijit Banerjee of MIT and Michael Kremer of Harvard, Duflo showed that effective policies often go against conventional wisdom and popular economic models. The only way to find out what works, she argues, is to rigorously test solutions on the ground, and she encourages businesses to do the same. With Banerjee, Duflo also wrote the new book "Good Economics for Hard Times."

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts

Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.

Get the app