Poor Economics

A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty
Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo

Why This Book Is Meaningful

Poor Economics is essential reading for anyone serious about reducing poverty without perpetuating it. Through a STEPi lens, the book restores balance to development work by engaging the brain (evidence and data), the heart (empathy and dignity), and the hands (practical action that works). Banerjee and Duflo move readers beyond ideology and guilt-driven charity toward careful, human-centred problem solving grounded in how people actually live and decide.

This approach aligns deeply with STEPi and Paul H. Sutherland’s Teaching with Love: helping without enabling, respecting agency rather than imposing solutions, and replacing saviour narratives with partnership and humility. The book challenges NGOs and policymakers to confront uncomfortable truths about well-intentioned programs that fail—or even harm—because they ignore incentives, behaviour, and context. Poor Economics matters because it teaches that real compassion is disciplined, evidence-based, and accountable to results, not intentions.

Author Websites:
https://economics.mit.edu/people/faculty/abhijit-banerjee
https://economics.mit.edu/people/faculty/esther-duflo