Poor Economics: rethinking poverty & the ways to end it (Paperback) | Released: 19 Jan 2026

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty is an influential book on development economics that examines how poor people make decisions and how poverty-reduction programs can be designed more effectively.

Written by economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, the book challenges many common assumptions about poverty and argues that successful solutions require understanding the everyday realities faced by people living in poverty. Instead of relying only on broad theories or large-scale solutions, the authors use evidence from field experiments conducted in countries around the world to study what actually works.

The book explores practical questions such as:

• Why do poor families sometimes avoid using available healthcare services?
• Why do children in poor communities struggle to receive quality education?
• How can microcredit, vaccinations, financial services, and government programs be improved?
• Which policies genuinely help people escape poverty?

A central idea of the book is the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in development economics. Through carefully designed experiments, researchers can test specific interventions and measure their real-world impact.