Is Poverty Alleviation Truly Possible?

We ask economist and Nobel laureate Esther Duflo

- Amit Dixit

In India, we have tried different things at the policy level to alleviate poverty. What do you think has worked and what is a sustainable approach to poverty alleviation?

To put this question in context, let’s remember that there has been tremendous progress against poverty in India. This progress started slowly in the 1980s, accelerated in the ’90s and has continued ever since. The approach that has been most effective against extreme poverty is the one we illustrate in the ‘Below Poverty Line’ chapter of the children’s book, Poor Economics for Kids. This is the ‘Graduation Approach’ originally developed in Bangladesh, but now implemented in India, particularly in Bihar, with 2,00,000 families already benefiting. It identifies the absolute poorest persons in a village and gives them a productive asset and support for two years. It has really helped people graduate out of extreme poverty. The approach is sustainable, not in the financial sense but in that the benefits far outweigh the costs.

What are the most critical factors that contribute to the long-term success of poverty alleviation programmes?

There are two things: One is to trust the poor. That is what we are learning from these programmes, whose impact has been very positive. The second is the quality of implementation. If you have fantastic ideas and they are not implemented well, you will be wasting resources.