The Future of Development Policy - Third World, First Hand

Third World, First Hand

Discussions about development often devolve into a discussion about whether development is working or not. But this evening one of the most prominent development economists of today, Esther Duflo, professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will take on a remarkably new approach. In her latest book Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, written in conjunction with Indian economist Abhijit Banerjee, Duflo proves that the issue of why development programmes in poor countries fail or succeed can be readily solved by large-scale experimental studies. By testing development programmes in the same way as we test new medicines, it is possible to find the best ways to fight global poverty. Our second speaker is Inge Hutter, Professor of Demography and Dean of the Faculty of Spatial Science at the University of Groningen. Tonight’s chairman is Robert Lensink, Professor of Finance and Financial Markets at the University of Groningen and Professor of Development Economics at the University of Wageningen.

Esther Duflo is a French development economist at the MIT and founder and director of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). J-PAL does innovative Randomized Evaluations in countries such as Chile, India, Kenya and Indonesia. The Economist lists Duflo as one of the top eight young economists in the world, and she was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.

Third World, First Hand consists of a series of public lectures by international speakers in which the audience is challenged by refreshing perspectives on several major global issues. The public lectures will go beyond the reporting in newspapers and television bulletins. The audience will be presented with innovative insights, and that is exactly what these tumultuous times demand of us: a reassessment of our old, stubbornly persistent ideas.

This public lecture series has been organized in co-operation with Globalisation Studies Groningen and is financed by NCDO.