College and University Fund Lecture Series
In this lecture, Esther Duflo will share her experience working in collaboration with policymakers in the developing world, and highlight the critical role of bringing a “plumbing” mindset to policy-relevant research: a mindset where policymakers realize that any program has so many dimensions that it is very difficult to get them all right, and where there is a need for constant experimentation and tinkering for policies to reach their full potential.
Speakers
About Esther Duflo
Esther Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at MIT, co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Chaire, Pauvreté et politiques publiques, Collège de France. In her research, she seeks to understand the economic lives of the poor, with the aim of helping design and evaluate social policies. She has worked on health, education, financial inclusion, environment and governance.
Professor Duflo has received numerous academic honors and prizes including the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the John Bates Clark Medal (2010), and a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship (2009). With Abhijit Banerjee, she wrote Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, which has been translated into more than 17 languages, and Good Economics for Hard Times.
About the SSRC Katznelson Fellow Lecture
The SSRC Katznelson Fellow Prize was created in honor of former SSRC President and Board Member Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History and Deputy Director of Columbia World Projects, Columbia University. The Katznelson Fellow Lecture recognizes distinguished scholars who exemplify innovation in the social and behavioral sciences.
About the Lecture Series
For more than 100 years, the Social Science Research Council has mobilized policy-relevant social and behavioral science aimed at finding actionable solutions to pressing societal challenges. The Council’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences is a network of nearly 50 research institutions that support our work to foster innovative and solutions-oriented social and behavioral science. In this virtual lecture series, faculty from College and University Fund member institutions share their work to understand how to pursue research that solves problems.
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