Esther Duflo

If we want to make progress, we have to be willing to admit that we don't know everything, and we have to be willing to experiment.

The poor are not just like us, but with less money. They are like us, but with much less margin for error.

Randomized controlled trials are not a panacea, but they are a powerful tool for understanding what works and what doesn't.

We need to move beyond grand theories and start looking at the small, concrete problems that people face every day.

Poverty is not just a lack of money; it's a lack of information, a lack of access, and a lack of power.

The fight against poverty is not a war; it's a series of small battles, fought on many fronts.

Good intentions are not enough. We need evidence to guide our actions.

The world is full of solutions, but we often don't know which ones work.

We need to be humble in the face of complexity.

The poor are not passive recipients of aid; they are active agents in their own lives.

Development is not about grand plans, but about careful experimentation and learning.

The best way to help the poor is to understand their lives, their choices, and their constraints.

We need to stop thinking of the poor as a monolithic group and start recognizing their diversity.

The goal is not to eliminate poverty, but to make it less painful and more manageable.

We often assume that people in poverty are irrational, but they are often making rational choices in difficult circumstances.

The power of randomized controlled trials lies in their ability to isolate the causal effect of an intervention.

We need to be willing to fail, to learn from our mistakes, and to try again.

The fight against poverty is a marathon, not a sprint.

Small changes can have big impacts.

We need to listen to the poor, to understand their priorities, and to design solutions that meet their needs.