Studying Poverty in Economics – The Work of the 2019 Nobel Prize Laureates

Abstract

In 2019, the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded jointly to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. Their work gave rise to the transformation of development economics both in terms of approach and methodology: the effect of the development programmes aimed at reducing poverty is now typically measured by randomised controlled trials, enabling researchers to reveal causal effects. Throughout their studies, the authors relentlessly seek the drivers of human behaviour with a view to enabling the design of effective development programmes based on a deeper understanding of the nutrition, health, education, finances, etc. of the poor.