The Economic Lives of the Poor

Details

Photo

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Name

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Authors

Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo

Year

2007

Field

Development economics

One big idea

Using detailed surveys, it shows how people living under $1–2 a day juggle work, food, savings, and risk in super constrained settings.

My take

Destroys the stereotype of “the poor” as some abstract block. After this, every policy hot take feels under-informed.