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A man in rural Morocco tells two economists that if he had more money he would buy more food. In his house stand a television, a satellite dish and a DVD player. That scene, from Poor Economics (2011), is typical of Esther Duflo, the French economist born in Paris in 1972: she starts from what poor people actually do, then tests what would change it. In 2003 she co-founded the Poverty Action Lab at MIT, which runs randomised trials of anti-poverty programmes, and in 2019, at 46, she became the youngest person and the second woman to receive the Nobel prize in economics. This guide covers her six key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 6 key books · 2009–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Esther Duflo’s best-known books are Poor Economics (2011) and Good Economics for Hard Times (2019), both written with Abhijit Banerjee. Before them she published three books in French on fighting poverty (2009–2010), and in 2024 Poor Economics for Kids. Start with Poor Economics; the second book takes the same method to the problems of rich countries.
Where to Start with Esther Duflo
If you want her defining book
→ Poor Economics (2011) — poverty seen through the choices of poor families.
If you want economics for rich countries too
→ Good Economics for Hard Times (2019) — migration, trade, climate and inequality.
If you read French and want the method itself
→ Expérience, science et lutte contre la pauvreté (2009) — her short lecture at the Collège de France.
If you want to explain poverty to children
→ Poor Economics for Kids (2024) — ten illustrated stories.
6 Esther Duflo Books, in Order
Expérience, science et lutte contre la pauvreté
Her inaugural lecture at the Collège de France, where she held the 2008–2009 chair “Savoirs contre pauvreté”, published by Fayard. In a short text she sets out the case for testing anti-poverty policies with randomised experiments, as medicine tests drugs. No English edition; available in French.
Le Développement humain
The first of two short volumes in the Seuil series La République des idées, built on her Collège de France lectures. It looks at what works in health and education for the poor, drawing on field experiments in countries such as India and Kenya. No English edition; available in French.
La Politique de l’autonomie
The second volume, published with the first by Seuil. It turns from health and schooling to the tools meant to help poor people help themselves, such as microcredit, and to the role of governance and corruption. No English edition; available in French.
Poor Economics
Written with Abhijit Banerjee and published by PublicAffairs in April 2011, the book follows how the poorest people in the world decide about food, health, schooling, family size, savings and small businesses, using randomised trials and surveys from several continents. It argues against both grand aid plans and pure market solutions, in favour of testing what works, one policy at a time. It won the 2011 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
Good Economics for Hard Times
Published in 2019, weeks after the two authors shared the Nobel prize, it turns their method to the debates of rich democracies: migration, trade, growth, climate change, automation and inequality. Its starting point is that economists have lost public trust, and that much popular wisdom on these subjects is not supported by the evidence.
Poor Economics for Kids
Ten illustrated stories, first published in French by Seuil Jeunesse as separate picture books from 2022, and in English by Juggernaut in one volume, with a foreword by Abhijit Banerjee. They follow Nilou and the people of her village: her friend Afia, who has malaria, an election, a flood, a cousin who leaves for the city. Notes at the end explain the research behind each story.
In What Order to Read Esther Duflo
None of her books depends on another, so for most English-language readers the order is simple: Poor Economics first, then Good Economics for Hard Times. The first is about the poorest countries, the second mostly about rich ones, and the second assumes you accept the method the first explains.
The three French books came first and are short. They cover much of the same ground as Poor Economics and are worth reading if you read French and want the case for experiments in its plainest form. The stories for children can be read at any point, and the notes at the end of each make a good summary of the research.
A reading path
1. Poor Economics (2011)
2. Good Economics for Hard Times (2019)
3. Expérience, science et lutte contre la pauvreté (2009)
4. Poor Economics for Kids (2024)
Everything Else Esther Duflo Published
Beyond the 6 key books: 7 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Edited for economists
2
2 books · 2017
- 2017Handbook of Field Experiments, Volume 1co-edited with Abhijit Banerjee, North-Holland
- 2017Handbook of Field Experiments, Volume 2co-edited with Abhijit Banerjee, North-Holland
Picture books in French (Seuil Jeunesse)
5
5 books · 2022
- 2022Nilou. Fini l’école buissonnière !the first story, illustrated by Cheyenne Olivier
- 2022Afia. Qui saura la guérir ?a friend falls ill with malaria
- 2022Neso et Najy. Même pas peur de la grande ville !leaving the village for the city
- 2022Oola. En avant les élections !an election in the village
- 2022Bibir. Un coup de pouce pour la sorcière !the fifth album of the first set
The years · 1972–2026
Quick facts about Esther Duflo
- Known for
- She made randomised field experiments the standard way to test what reduces poverty, work for which she shared the 2019 Nobel prize in economics.
- 1972
- Born in Paris
- 1999
- PhD at MIT, then joins its faculty
- 2003
- Co-founds the Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
- 2011
- Poor Economics
- 2026
- Moves with Banerjee to the University of Zurich
- Born
- 25 October 1972, Paris, France; her mother was a paediatrician
- Education
- École Normale Supérieure, Paris (history and economics); PhD, MIT, 1999
- Worked
- MIT from 1999; Collège de France; University of Zurich from July 2026
- Nobel prize
- Economic sciences, 2019, with Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer
- Other honours
- John Bates Clark Medal (2010); Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences (2015)
- Married
- The economist Abhijit Banerjee, in 2015; two children
The red mark is 2011: Poor Economics, her first book in English, written with Abhijit Banerjee.
How Esther Duflo Writes: Small Questions, Tested
Duflo writes from the results of experiments, most of them her own or her colleagues’ at J-PAL: a programme is offered to some villages or schools chosen at random and not to others, and the difference is measured. Her books turn those results into argument. Instead of asking what causes poverty in general, she asks narrower questions — whether free bed nets get used, why parents skip free vaccinations, whether microcredit raises household spending — and reports what the data showed, including when it showed little.
The books are written with Abhijit Banerjee, her former doctoral supervisor and later her husband, in a plain first-person plural. They open chapters with named people met during fieldwork, such as the Moroccan man with a television but too little food, and quote what poor people say about their own choices before explaining them. Technical detail is kept to notes.
Her targets are confident generalisations from left and right alike: the claim that aid always works, the claim that it never does, and in Good Economics for Hard Times popular beliefs about migration and trade. Critics say the method can only answer small questions; her reply in the books is that small, tested changes add up. For writers who look as closely at poverty, see the guides to Matthew Desmond and Barbara Ehrenreich linked below.
Watch
Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee on Poor Economics at Jaipur
Esther Duflo and Abhijit V. Banerjee discuss Poor Economics in a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival. From the official Jaipur Literature Festival channel.
Frequently asked questions about Esther Duflo’s books
How many books has Esther Duflo written?
Six key books on this page: three in French (2009–2010), Poor Economics (2011) and Good Economics for Hard Times (2019) with Abhijit Banerjee, and Poor Economics for Kids (2024). She also co-edited the two-volume Handbook of Field Experiments (2017) and published the children’s stories in French as separate picture books from 2022.
What are Esther Duflo’s books in order?
Expérience, science et lutte contre la pauvreté (2009), Le Développement humain (2010), La Politique de l’autonomie (2010), Poor Economics (2011), Good Economics for Hard Times (2019) and Poor Economics for Kids (2024).
Where should I start with Esther Duflo?
With Poor Economics (2011). It explains the experimental method through the everyday choices of poor families, and the later books assume you know it. If you are more interested in rich countries, start with Good Economics for Hard Times.
What is Esther Duflo’s most famous book?
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty (2011), written with Abhijit Banerjee, which won the 2011 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
Why did Esther Duflo win the Nobel prize?
She shared the 2019 prize in economic sciences with Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. At 46 she was the youngest laureate in economics and the second woman to receive it.
Is Esther Duflo married to Abhijit Banerjee?
Yes. They met in 1995, when she was his student at MIT, and married in 2015. They have two children and wrote Poor Economics and Good Economics for Hard Times together.
What is the criticism of Esther Duflo’s method?
Randomised controlled trials are widely debated. Critics including the Nobel laureate Angus Deaton argue that results from one place may not hold in another, that the method favours small questions over large ones such as roads or institutions, and that experimenting on poor people raises ethical problems. Her 2008 microfinance study, which found little effect on household spending, was received negatively by the microfinance industry.
Are Esther Duflo’s French books available in English?
No. Expérience, science et lutte contre la pauvreté and the two volumes of Lutter contre la pauvreté have no English edition. Much of their content reappears in Poor Economics.
Where does Esther Duflo work now?
She spent her career at MIT, where she co-founded J-PAL in 2003. In October 2025 the University of Zurich announced that she and Abhijit Banerjee would join it in July 2026.
Footnotes
- Esther Duflo — Wikipedia
- Poor Economics — Wikipedia
- Esther Duflo, facts — NobelPrize.org
- Esther Duflo inaugure une collection au Seuil Jeunesse — Livres Hebdo, 2022
- Poor Economics for Kids — Scroll.in
- The Nobel winners in economics are on the right track — Foreign Policy, 2019
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“It is unreasonable to expect markets to deliver outcomes that are just, acceptable, or even efficient.”
— Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, Good Economics for Hard Times (2019)
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