Abhijit Banerjee

Abhijit Banerjee Speaker Biography

Nobel Prize Winner and Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sustainable development and economics speaker Abhijit Banerjee is the co-recipient of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics along with his wife, Michael Kremer, and Esther Duflo. He obtained his education at the University of Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Moreover, he studied to get his Ph.D. at Harvard University. At the moment, Abhijit works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics. He co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) with Sendhil Mullainathan and Esther Duflo in 2003. Today, he continues to serve as one of the lab’s directors.

Previous Associations

Banerjee used to be the Bureau for the Research in the Economic Analysis of Development’s president. He also did some research for NBER, CEPR, the Kiel Institute, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Econometric Society. Moreover, Abhijit has been an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and received the Infosys Prize.

Publications

Among his publications are many articles and four books, one of which being Poor Economics. This book won the Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year. Speaker Abhijit Banerjee’s most recent book, Good Economics for Hard Times, describes how economics can assist us in tackling the social and political difficulties of our time. He co-wrote the book with Esther Duflo. Furthermore, he has edited three other books and directed two documentaries. Abhijit Banerjee was also a member of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, convened by the United Nations Secretary-General.

Quality of Life

He and his colleagues are attempting to determine the effectiveness of actions to enhance people’s quality of life. They do this through the use of randomized controlled trials, which are analogous to clinical trials in the medical field. For instance, even though polio immunization is widely available in India, parents fail to get their children vaccinated. Banerjee conducted an experiment along with Esther Duflo. They would distribute bags of pulses to whoever got their children vaccinated. The rate of immunization began to rise shortly after starting to give these pulses away. Moreover, they did another experiment where they discovered that kids with special needs learned more at school when supported by teaching assistants.

Abhijit Banerjee Speaking Topics

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty

Abhijit Banerjee is a renowned sustainable development economist whose life work has focused on alleviating global poverty. In this keynote lecture by co-winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, Abhijit Banerjee, he will answer interesting questions such as: • Why do the poor borrow to save? • Why do they miss out on free life-saving immunizations, but pay for unnecessary drugs? • Why do children in poor areas have so much difficulty learning even when they attend school? Drawing on his best-selling book written with his wife and translated into 17 languages, in addition to more than fifteen years of research in dozens of poor countries around the world, Abhijit Banerjee will address the specific problems that come with poverty and offer proved solutions. Duflo and Banerjee argue that too many anti-poverty policies have failed due to a poor understanding of poverty. With an optimistic final message that poverty can be eradicated from our world, Professor Banerjee will transform your way of thinking about poverty and help your audience fight to build a better world without it.

Good Economics for Hard Times

The 2019 Nobel Prize winners in economics, Abhijit Banerjee and his wife Esther Duflo, have spent more than 15 years studying poverty and fighting to eradicate it. In this lecture, based on his latest book (Good Economics for Hard Times), Abhijit Banerjee will discuss the hard times we live in and to what extent the economy - when properly exercised - can solve our social and even political problems. Abhijit Banerjee firmly believes that we have the necessary resources to face all our major challenges: from immigration to inequality, and even the climate emergency. In this keynote speech, Abhijit Banerjee will solve questions like: • Why migrations do not follow the laws of supply and demand? • How can trade liberalization increase unemployment and lower wages? • Why has no one managed to convincingly explain the conditions necessary for growth? Join Abhijit Banerjee, Nobel Prize in Economics 2019 in this fascinating speech in the search for a society based on empathy and respect, through good economics.