Understanding Poverty

by Abhijit V. Banerjee (Editor), Roland Benabou (Editor), Dilip Mookherjee (Editor)

This volume brings together essays by thirty-four leading economists about the most important things they have learnt from their research that relate to poverty. The essays range from the impact of colonialism and globalization to the future of micro-credit and the quest for new
vaccines.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Academic, Sociology, Poverty

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee is an Indian economist. He is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Banerjee is a co-founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (along with economists Esther Duflo and Sendhil Mullainathan) and a Research Affiliate of Innovations for Poverty Action, a New Haven, Connecticut based research outfit dedicated to creating and evaluating solutions to social and international development problems, and a Member of the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty. He was awarded 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. He is also the recipient of the inaugural Infosys Prize in the category of Social Sciences (Economics).

Reviews

[tarun shukla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great essays compilations on reasons of poverty. If you are in public policy or want to understand development process , this is a great book to begin with.

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by multiple contributors, it’s clear that some sections are better than others, presenting more compelling insights and analyses. The book's ambition to tackle such a complex issue as poverty via varied perspectives is commendable, yet it encounters challenges in maintaining consistency across chapters and at parts seems disconnected to a point where I’m not entirely sure what the purpose or the goal of this book really was.

While it may not secure a top rating due to disparities in the quality of content, this book manages to deliver valuable insights into understanding poverty from diverse viewpoints. Some segments demonstrate depth, offering nuanced perspectives, while others fall short in their ability to captivate or thoroughly examine their ideas.