Aug 26, 2011

A Debate on the Role of Microcredit in Supporting Women and Girls

Jul 13, 2011

Bad News for Cynics and Optimists: An Extended Interview with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

Whenever I read one of Banerjee’s and Duflo’s papers or talk with them I walk away with the exhilaration that only comes from (as the economist’s would say) changing my priors—in other words, I learn something and look at the world in a new way. That’s why I was so excited to spend more than an hour talking with them this spring after Poor Economics came out. We’re publishing a transcript of that extended interview in parts because it runs to over 6000 words in its entirety. 

Over the course of the interview we discuss microcredit, microenterprise funding and growth, labor markets in developing and developed countries, the evidence for focusing on women and girls with aid programs, the debate over RCTs and how they think about their own impact on changing the world.

Apr 26, 2011

Two New Books on Small Ways to Help the Poor: More Than Good Intentions and Poor Economics

Two new books from the world of development economics offer solid arguments for why all of us should care more about the small things than the big things: More Than Good Intentions, by Yale economist Dean Karlan and his co-writer Jacob Appel, and Poor Economics by MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.

Apr 26, 2011

Book Review: Poor Economics

Two new books from the world of development economics offer solid arguments for why all of us should care more about the small things than the big things: More than Good Intentions, by Yale economist Dean Karlan and his co-writer Jacob Appel, and Poor Economics by MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.

Nov 02, 2010

The Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference Round Up

There was a huge amount of information and data presented at the recent Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference. It was hard to take it all in, but thankfully there were a number of bloggers and other interested parties at the event who have provided summaries, interviews and reactions. Those posts are collected here for easy access and we’ll be updating the list as we go.

Oct 29, 2010

Eyes and Mouths Wide Shut?

A planned public discussion of how to evaluate the Millennium Villages Project was canceled this week for unknown reasons. Join a petition to encourage the Center for Global Development, the World Bank and the Millennium Villages Project to reschedule the discussion and make it accessible to all.

Oct 22, 2010

My Favorite Study of the Day: Why Aren’t We Targeting Men?

Two years ago David McKenzie presented results of his work in Sri Lanka on the returns on capital for male and female entrepreneurs. He found that women had zero or negative returns on capital, while men, on average, generated fairly high returns. Since then he’s run a similar study in Ghana. I’ll be writing about this study in more detail later, including an interview with David, but for now I wanted to pass along the content of David’s last slide which covers his conclusions from the studies he’s done on this issue:

Sep 28, 2010

Is US Education in Crisis?

Nicholas Lemann posits in last week’s New Yorker that there is no crisis in US public education. Is he right?

Sep 22, 2010

Technology in Education - More questions than answers

A New York Times article on the potential of using video games kids in education makes some interesting points about the kind of lessons people learn when mastering a game. Success comes only when you get the highest level, and no gamer expects to get there without having their avatar die many times before they get there. Failure, in short, is an expected, necessary and useful part of the process, and you can fail as much as you want—the game will let you try again.

Aug 12, 2010

Ensuring Markets in Education Work

A recent study of for-profit higher education institutions in the US found widespread misbehavior. Social entrepreneurs, funders and policy makers in the “private schools for the poor” movement should take note—and ensure their programs design accountability, transparency and quality governance systems from the outset.