Poor Economics for Kids

by Esther Duflo, Cheyenne Olivier

Nilou lives in a village. She and her friends are just like you – they don’t like going to school and they love playing on tablets – but many of her experiences aren’t like yours.

The pharmacy nearby doesn’t have all the medicines they need; during a flood, some of her friends lose their homes, and when her favourite cousin can’t find work in the village, he has to go to the city to make a living.

In this fun, smart, and beautifully illustrated book, Esther Duflo and Cheyenne Olivier weave a series of delightful stories that will open your eyes to the world around you.

Genres: Economics, Childrens

339 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 3, 2024

About the author

Esther Duflo is a French economist, Co-Founder and Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), and Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Duflo serves on the board of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), and is Director of the Center of Economic Policy Research's development economics program. Her research focuses on microeconomic issues in developing countries, including household behavior, education, access to finance, health and policy evaluation. She was awarded 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. She is the youngest person and the second woman to win the award.

Reviews

[Vinayak Hegde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esther Duflo - A Nobel Prize winning economist wrote this book for children to describe her prize-winning work. The adult version of this book is called Poor Economics. The book is a collection of short illustrated stories on the life of the poor, how they live and how their lives can be improved using small interventions. These are based on research conducted using controlled experiments to check their efficacy. However the stories are written simple easily understandable language. The illustrations by Cheyenne Oliver are beautifully drawn and colored in bright colors. The stories are a followed by a short essay which explains the context of the story and the experiment. The book is worth reading for both adults and kids.

[Saumya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book and it can't be denied that it is a value addition to the children's reading material.
Since the book is extensively based on studies in the third world countries I wish there was a story that also dealt with the issue of begging.

[Amirtha Shri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small lessons in economy and societal norms for kids to get started early in discovering the challenges faced by the poor. I'd have to test this one out on kids to see how they grasp the concepts and enjoy the stories. The graphics are lively and fun!