An interesting essay in WSJ: The Anti-Poverty Experiment
Related:
Several prominent development economists (Abhijit
Banerjee, Esther Duflo and others) have published a new research article in the
journal Science:
A
multifaceted program causes lasting progress for the very poor: Evidence from
six countries
Authors: Abhijit
Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Nathanael Goldberg, Dean Karlan, Robert Osei, William
Parienté, Jeremy Shapiro, Bram Thuysbaert, and Christopher Udry
Science 15
May 2015: 348 (6236)
ABSTRACT
“We present results from
six randomized control trials of an integrated approach to improve livelihoods
among the very poor. The approach combines the transfer of a productive asset
with consumption support, training, and coaching plus savings encouragement and
health education and/or services. Results from the implementation of the same
basic program, adapted to a wide variety of geographic and institutional
contexts and with multiple implementing partners, show statistically
significant cost-effective impacts on consumption (fueled mostly by increases
in self-employment income) and psychosocial status of the targeted households.
The impact on the poor households lasted at least a year after all
implementation ended. It is possible to make sustainable improvements in the
economic status of the poor with a relatively short-term intervention.”