Abhijit Banerjee

Abhijit Banerjee received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics along with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. At MIT, he co-founded J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) which has conducted hundreds of randomised controlled trials to evaluate development interventions. His work has influenced how development finance institutions, impact investors, and NGOs evaluate the effectiveness of programs ranging from microfinance to cash transfers. His book "Poor Economics" (with Duflo) became a popular account of anti-poverty research. Beyond J-PAL, he has advised governments on conditional cash transfer design and contributed to debates on universal basic income, demonstrating how rigorous experimental methods can reshape public policy priorities and improve the cost-effectiveness of social spending at scale.