Poor Economics: A Revolutionary Approach to Combatting Global Poverty

Siddhesh Mhatre: An excellent read for not just non-profit professionals but everyone! The book dives deep into the challenges faced by the poor and how small changes could lead to big gains.

India on Dec 25, 2023

Yves: This book is fantastic for every human being, but specially for those of us who want to tackle the problem of human poberty one way or another. It just doesn't explain why things are the way they are, but it also offers solutions. And not just theoretical ones, but solutions that have actually worked in some parts of the world. Besides, the authors focus on each part of the problem in every chapter (hunger, education, health, etc.) which makes it even easier to understand and grasp the whole picture. Highly recommended book for everyone!

Mexico on Nov 11, 2023

Bethany: If you have any interest in poverty alleviation at all, I highly recommend this book. Much time has been spent arguing about the best and worst methods for alleviating poverty. The authors of this book have a refreshingly straightforward take on this: let's figure out what works for each specific issue and do that. It seems kind of obvious, right? But as they point out, a lot of poverty relief efforts are NOT evidence-based, but instead motivated by broad, sweeping ideological positions such as "provide enough monetary aid to get the poor on their feet and they will be self-sufficient from there" or "aid is at best a bandaid and at worst a barrier to long-term success - rather, we need to let the free market do its job and over time poverty will dissipate."

The authors argue (persuasively, in my view) that neither of these sweeping conclusions is all right or all wrong. Instead, the problems causing and caused by poverty are complex, multifaceted, and cannot be solved by a single action plan and certainly not by a single ideology. Government aid won't fix ALL of the problems, but neither will private charity or the free market. If we are truly interested in alleviating...

United States on Mar 04, 2023

A.S.: Muy buena compra

Spain on Jul 30, 2022

Kerwin Barnes: Very well-written. Very eye-opening. The authors provide insights into both the psychology of the poor and the bureaucrats in a position to help them.

Canada on Aug 02, 2021

Cássio Kendi: Este livro se encaixa na categoria de 'livros para expandir o cérebro'. Os autores tratam a economia da pobreza analisando situações específicas com base em evidências, ao invés de favorecer uma solução genérica muitas vezes baseada em dogma ou orientação política.

Os tópicos vão do nível individual (fome/nutrição, saúde, educação e estrutura familiar) ao coletivo (instituições financeiras/políticas e empreendedorismo). Alguns aprendizados:

- Os mais pobres têm responsabilidade por quase todos aspectos de sua vida, o que traduz em gastar muito tempo e energia com necessidades básicas. É a falácia do "você e o Bill Gates têm 24 horas". Eu tenho menos tempo livre do que o Bill Gates porque não tenho assistentes pessoais; alguém que precisa buscar água no poço ao invés de abrir a torneira tem menos tempo livre do que eu.
- Existem barreiras de custo fixo/risco em prover serviços financeiros à população mais pobre. Empréstimos, poupança e seguros são alguns dos exemplos. Por conta desta falta de acesso, muitos recorrem a empréstimos de juros altos com pessoa física ou poupam com tijolos, construindo uma parede da casa por vez...

Brazil on Jan 29, 2021

T. Graczewski: I’ve spent the past seven years working for Intuit, the company behind such successful consumer software products as TurboTax, QuickBooks, Quicken and Mint.com. A fundamental principle to our product management approach is the “follow-me-home.” That is, we literally shadow our potential customers – usually small business owners and American taxpayers and budgeters – to observe how they behave and why they make the decisions they do. The intent is to learn by observing, rather than surveying or relying on research reports. This widely acclaimed book by two young MIT economists, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, takes the Intuit “follow-me-home” approach to the fight against global poverty. While Jeffrey Sachs is declaring the macro-decisions required to end global poverty literally within years and critics like William Easterly are asserting that such claims smack of utopian social engineering, the authors of “Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty,” take a more customer-back approach to making a dent in the problem. They ask a few fundamental questions: “Are there ways for the poor to improve their lives, and what is preventing...

United States on Apr 14, 2014