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Experimental Approach Not Panacea for Poverty Alleviation

Oct 25-2019   



 

This year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was presented to three economists for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty: Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer. NSD Prof. Zhang Xiaobo said that the experimental approach is worth studying, but worried that some young researchers might mistake the prize as a signal for all-out copying of the approach.

 

According to the three Nobel laureates, random experimentation might be the most scientific method and should be applied as much as possible in development economics. Some of their accolade-winning experiments include doling out mosquito nets to fight malaria, and giving ascarid medicines to children to improve school attendance. Though effective, such experimentation cannot be feasibly transplanted to a range of policy issues. In other words, research topics suitable for experimentation approach are likelier to be marginal ones.

 

To replicate such experiments on a large scale constitutes another challenges. Not all places need mosquito nets. Flying in Ph.D. students to do an experiment is one thing; relying on local staff to expand an experiment from one village to an entire country is quite another.

 

For poverty alleviation, China follows an old saying: better teach someone to fish than give him fish. More can be achieved by creating a fair environment for people’s growing up and employment and by motivating them to seek opportunities.

 

China’s reform and opening up over the last forty years has generated strong economic growth and provided a case study for poverty reduction. Reforms tend to be carefully conducted in a small area to limit risks and rolled out only when positive results are secured. Such reforms are beyond the realms of random experimentation.

Experimental Approach Not Panacea for Poverty Alleviation

Oct 25-2019   



 

This year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was presented to three economists for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty: Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer. NSD Prof. Zhang Xiaobo said that the experimental approach is worth studying, but worried that some young researchers might mistake the prize as a signal for all-out copying of the approach.

 

According to the three Nobel laureates, random experimentation might be the most scientific method and should be applied as much as possible in development economics. Some of their accolade-winning experiments include doling out mosquito nets to fight malaria, and giving ascarid medicines to children to improve school attendance. Though effective, such experimentation cannot be feasibly transplanted to a range of policy issues. In other words, research topics suitable for experimentation approach are likelier to be marginal ones.

 

To replicate such experiments on a large scale constitutes another challenges. Not all places need mosquito nets. Flying in Ph.D. students to do an experiment is one thing; relying on local staff to expand an experiment from one village to an entire country is quite another.

 

For poverty alleviation, China follows an old saying: better teach someone to fish than give him fish. More can be achieved by creating a fair environment for people’s growing up and employment and by motivating them to seek opportunities.

 

China’s reform and opening up over the last forty years has generated strong economic growth and provided a case study for poverty reduction. Reforms tend to be carefully conducted in a small area to limit risks and rolled out only when positive results are secured. Such reforms are beyond the realms of random experimentation.