Esther Duflo

Esther Duflo is the co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a research centre supporting scientifically informed policy-making to reduce global poverty. Prior to co-founding J-PAL in 2003, Esther was an assistant professor and then professor in the department of economics at MIT until she was appointed the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in 2005. Esther is also scientific director of J-PAL South Asia and previously served as co-chair of J-PAL’s Urban Services Initiative.

An economist specialising in poverty alleviation, Esther’s research designs and evaluates social policies with the aim of developing new ways to reduce global poverty. Esther co-wrote 'Poor economics: A radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty' with her research partner, Abhijit Banerjee, which won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2011 and has been translated into 17 languages. The co-writers’ subsequent book, 'Good economics for hard times', won the Deutscher Wirtschaftsbuchpreis Best Business Book of the Year in 2020.

Beyond economics, Esther’s research spans health, education, financial inclusion, the environment and governance. Her work has received multiple awards including the Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences (2015), the ASK Social Science Award (2015), Infosys Prize in Social Sciences and Economics (2014), the David N Kershaw Award (2011), a John Bates Clark Medal (2010) and a MacArthur "genius grant” Fellowship (2009).

In 2019, Esther was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics with Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer in recognition of their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. Esther was the youngest person and second woman to receive this award.

Esther took a degree in history and economics from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1994 and completed a doctorate in economics at MIT in 1999. She is the editor of the American Economic Review, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a corresponding fellow of the British Academy. In 2021, she was made a commander of the Légion d'honneur of France.

News

J-PAL co-founders celebrated among the Carnegie Corporation’s 2024 Class of Great Immigrants

J-PAL Africa, the City of Cape Town and Community Jameel launch new Water, Air and Energy Lab

J-PAL announces a new, multi-year training partnership in Côte d’Ivoire to increase the use of rigorous evidence in national policies and programmes

J-PAL co-founder Esther Duflo elected president of the Paris School of Economics

How the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab has impacted 600 million lives in 20 years through its Nobel Prize-winning approach to poverty alleviation

Media

Esther Duflo: "I could never have won the Nobel Prize except at MIT"

Rise of metascience: Turning science on itself

Groundbreaking poverty alleviation project expands with new Arnold Ventures, J-PAL North America collaboration

Las potencias y una enorme “deuda moral” climática

Esther Duflo: Rich world owes $500bn in ‘moral debt’ to poor countries

Nobel-winning economist estimates the world's moral debt to poor countries is worth 20 billion dollars

Global billionaires tax to fight climate change, hunger rises up political agenda

Esther Duflo: 'We must compensate the world's poorest citizens and help them adapt to climate change'

Proposed: A global minimum tax on billionaires to mitigate the human costs of climate change

Nobel economist tells G-20 to slap climate tax on billionaires

Abhijit Banerjee, Nobel Prize in economics: ‘There are important things that cannot be solved just with a money transfer ’

Excitement as Water, Air and Energy Lab launched in City

Water crisis: 'Fear factor' saved Cape Town and can work for Joburg, says mayor

Réduire leur consommation d'eau, le défi des habitants du Cap pour éviter la catastrophe en 2018

J-PAL Africa, the City of Cape Town and Community Jameel launch new Water, Air and Energy Lab

Igniting a beacon of innovation: The launch of the WAE Lab in Cape Town

Education department set to enlist phone tutoring from Nobel laureates' NGO

Meet 8 MIT women faculty who teach MITx courses and lead cutting-edge research

Framing the immigration issue

Esther Duflo, dans les pas de Daniel Cohen

Jharkhand Governor felicitates 625 women graduating out of extreme poverty

Improving school infrastructure, programmes to improve learning outcomes announced In Karnataka budget

Columna de María Paz Arzola: No repetir los errores de la reforma educacional

L’hommage d’Esther Duflo à Daniel Cohen

Les héritages de l’économiste Daniel Cohen, des «pavés contre les idées reçues»

Shifra e ditës: 10 ekonomistët me më tepër ndikim, të cilët ndryshuan historinë e botës

Côte d’Ivoire /Evaluation des politiques publiques: Nialé Kaba lance la formation d’une quarantaine de fonctionnaires du pays

Côte d’Ivoire-AIP/ 33 fonctionnaires bénéficient d’une formation en évaluation de politiques publiques

Qui est Esther Duflo, la nouvelle présidente de Paris School of Economics ?

Esther Duflo, Prix Nobel 2019, va diriger l’Ecole d’économie de Paris

J-PAL announces new, multi-year training partnership in Côte d’Ivoire to increase use of rigorous evidence in national policies and programmes

Esther Duflo, new president of the Paris School of Economics

La Prix Nobel Esther Duflo prend la tête de l’Ecole d’économie de Paris

From gender inclusivity to climate change: Art exhibition explores ways to popularise policy discourse

Is economics broken?

Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo turn findings into fun – play, exhibition

Two decades of J-PAL: Revolutionising development economics through evidence-based solutions

‘If we want to remove extreme poverty... we must match it with financing’

Nina Singh takes charge as CISF’s first woman chief

Trailblazing academician cop, Nina Singh, becomes first woman CISF DG

Interview | Korea should prioritise raising quality of life over indiscriminate growth, argue economists

J-PAL: 20 Years of Acting on Poverty

Comment savoir à qui donner ? Nos conseils pour être généreux et efficace, par Franck Ramus

Are the rich getting richer?

Women can make the world better

The real Washington consensus

Pushing evidence-based policymaking for the poor

Opinion: Ending extreme poverty is within reach. We can’t give up.

Esther Duflo: «La philanthropie ne doit pas se substituer aux gouvernements locaux»

How Gujarat plans to make air polluters pay

Vers un come-back de la prix Nobel d'économie Esther Duflo en France?

Nobel laureate Michael Kremer praises education reforms in Andhra Pradesh

After Surat, emission trading scheme starts in Ahmedabad

Esther Duflo, prix Nobel d’économie : « Le sentiment qu’un pauvre l’est par sa faute est profondément ancré »

L’économiste Esther Duflo : « Il existe déjà énormément de marges d’action pour lutter contre la pauvreté »

Esther Duflo : « La lutte contre le réchauffement climatique est en retard de vingt ans par rapport à celle contre la pauvreté »

Esther Duflo : « Sur le fait d’aider les pauvres, nous sommes revenus à notre méfiance fondamentale »

Esther Duflo: « la lutte contre la pauvreté a toujours été avec moi »

Who will be awarded the next Nobel Prize in Economics?

L'UM6P lance l'école d'été dédiée aux méthodologies du développement

Throwing good money after good

Government has been counting India’s poor all wrong—it is ad hoc, arbitrary

Book Box | The secret lives of banks

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) hosts a symposium in Paris to 20 years of fighting poverty

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) hosts a symposium in Paris to celebrate its 20th anniversary

Esther Duflo, Prix Nobel d’économie: « Il n’existe pas de formule pour rendre un pays prospère »

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab hosts a seminar in Paris

J-PAL hosts colloquium in Paris in celebration of 20 years of fighting against poverty

Pacte financier mondial : « la leçon » du prix Nobel Esther Duflo aux pays riches

Nobel-winning economist calls for climate tax as carbon costs lives

Esther Duflo : "On assiste depuis 2019 à une globalisation des problèmes auxquels font face les plus pauvres"

Throwing good money after good