Chillin'Competition

I do not believe it is news to anybody reading the blog that Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics. In their case, the only question was when they would get the award, not whether they would.

I thought I would write a short post to offer an appreciation of their work. As an academic, I have always regarded them as inspiring figures. In particular, Esther Duflo (just like Jean Tirole) is the sort of academic all scholars should aspire to be. If you want to be inspired too, just take a look at her superb (passionate, thoughtful, articulate) TED talk on the matters that keep her busy.

It has become fashionable in some competition law circles to be dismissive of economics: too ideological, too theoretical, impractical, not real world at all. Typically, these cliches come from people with only the most superficial understanding of the discipline.

Perhaps worse, criticism of this kind is unfair to people like Esther Duflo, who devote their professional lives to the understanding of complex problems and, by doing so, to improving the lives of millions.

I have often told my friends that, if they want to make an effort and go beyond the surface to get an idea of what economics is really about (how it addresses problems, how it improves incrementally and how it is relevant for the real world), they should take a look at Poor Economics, the book for non-specialist audiences she wrote with Abhijit Banerjee.

I guess this eventful day is as good as any other to recommend it to everyone following the blog!