Season 4 Episode 5 - Esther Duflo

Economics In Ten

Have you heard of the ‘Randomistas’? Seemingly they are taking the economics world by storm and at the heart of this group of research economists is a French-American named Esther Duflo. With her husband Abhijit Banerjee and colleague Michael Kremer, she became only the second woman to win the Nobel Prize for Economics, for her use of Randomised Control Trials, aimed at testing the efficacy of different social policies in combatting poverty and other ills in the developing (and in parts of the developed) world. Lauded by world leaders (and philanthropists with deep pockets) they have put forward a vision of economics unclouded by prejudice and politics. But in a profession seemingly divided between free marketeers and interventionists, does she successfully cut through the noise by dealing only in the data? In other words is it possible or even desirable to be free of ideology in the pursuit of economic truth and "what works"? This question and many more surrounding the life and ideas of Duflo, are discussed as always by your friendly neighbourhood economists, Pete and Gav. Technical support is provided by Nic and music comes from Jukedeck. You can create your own at Jukedeck.com