Esther Duflo

Esther Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at MIT's Department of Economics, co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), and holds the Chaire, Pauvreté et politiques publiques at the Collège de France. She earned her PhD from MIT in 1999, following degrees from Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. Her research focuses on understanding poverty dynamics and designing evidence-based policies in areas like health, education, and governance. She has authored influential books including Poor Economics and Good Economics for Hard Times, and co-authored children's books translating poverty research for younger audiences.

Her academic honors include the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, the John Bates Clark Medal (2010), and a MacArthur Fellowship (2009). She serves as President of the Paris School of Economics and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Duflo’s work emphasizes randomized controlled trials to evaluate policy impacts, shaping global development agendas through J-PAL's scalable interventions.