http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/01/05/the-economic-lives-of-the-poor Comments for "The Economic Lives of the Poor" en http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/01/05/the-economic-lives-of-the-poor#comment-8026 Sounds like a worthwhile read. Here is an ungated version: http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/index.htm?prof_id=banerjee&type=paper<br class="clear" /> Fri, 12 Jan 2007 04:39:29 -0500 Shanthi Manian comment 8026 at http://www.nextbillion.net http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/01/05/the-economic-lives-of-the-poor <img src="http://www.povertyactionlab.com/images/pal_logo.jpg" border="0" alt="MIT&#39;s Poverty Action Lab" title="MIT&#39;s Poverty Action Lab" width="200" height="45" align="left" />Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, both of MIT’s<a href="http://www.povertyactionlab.com/"> Poverty Action Lab</a>, published a working paper back in October 2006 called <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=942062"><em>The Economic Lives of the Poor.</em></a> I am not usually one to urge an economics paper on anyone, but I will break from tradition here. Print this paper, take it home this weekend, and read it. I promise you that it will be 45 minutes well spent. <br /> <br /> <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=942062"><em>The Economic Lives of the Poor</em></a> is based on 13 countries’ household surveys, and is one of the first publications to document spending patterns among very poor people. (We at WRI are currently working on a similar, more extensive analysis of such spending patterns, using similar survey data from 100-plus countries). While Banerjee and Duflo are not writing for a business audience – their paper will be published in an academic economics journal – it should be required reading for those of interested in the connection between business and development.<br /> <br /> I like this paper so much because it shows that the ultra-poor – earning $1 or $2 per day – do in fact make choices about how to allocate their spending. Despite the ability to choose, the poor often remain so because they are badly served by the private and public sectors – victims of monopoly and monopsony. Of course, it is never simple, and Banerjee/Duflo don’t pretend that it is. <br /><br />(This post continues past the break; click &quot;Read More&quot; to continue)<br class="clear" /><p><a href="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/01/05/the-economic-lives-of-the-poor">read more</a></p> http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/01/05/the-economic-lives-of-the-poor#comment Strategy Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:06:57 -0500 Rob Katz 3725 at http://www.nextbillion.net