In: Economics
In Banerjee and Duflo’s, Poor Economics, the authors argue that an important research tool has led us to a much greater understanding of how the lives of the poor can be improved. Describe this tool and why the authors think it is so useful. Provide two examples of the use of this tool and the results that were found and describe very briefly why the findings might be useful for development policy.
The authors use the evidence based randomized control trial approach. This is a tool wherein it aims to reduce bias. The people in the trial are randomly put into either the group receiving the treatment or the group not receiving the treatment. They think it is useful because they feel they will get incite full results as any other differences between two groups should cancel out on average as the two groups are identical, the difference arising should only be from the treatment given to one group and not the other.
The two examples of RCT are. First there are cheap alternatives to health which the poor are reluctant to spend the time and money for. Poor care a lot about their family's health, but they prefer to go to private doctors who over medicate and is sometimes dangerous. The finding may be useful to create solutions such as reduced paperwork and time to consult a low cost doctor, sponsored by the government.
They used this tool also to find why there are half built houses in developing countries. After observing data, they got the conclusion that poor save brick by brick. They invest in a house and it is a form of saving as saving small amounts in banks turn out to be expensive. This finding can help improve the awareness that the poor require to advance. Development policy can target poor by educating them regarding research and saving where they have a greater chance of gaining an interest.