No beret, no diffident sneer, no funky-looking cigarette, no nonsense about how "everything is crap."
Esther Duflo was recently named one of the 100 top intellectuals in the world--91st, in fact, which is not bad for a 36 year old. She will begin a season of lectures at the Collège de France, the "Everest of French intellectual life," according to The Independent (UK).
Mme Duflo is a "development economist" one of the world's greatest experts – perhaps the greatest – on why development programmes in poor countries often fail and why they sometimes succeed. Her precise field of expertise has existed less than a decade. She is among its inventors.
Mme Duflo is not an abstract theorist, as French intellectuals are assumed (often encouraged) to be. She investigates, in elaborate detail, the practical, small things which can make a difference in trying to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor. For instance, not just "education, education, education" but how to make sure pupils and their teachers turn up at school. (Answer: tiny incentives, such as free meals or uniforms, can transform attendance in poor countries.)
Said Mme Duflo: "We have framed tests in different countries, which show that people will take, say, de-worming medicine in far greater numbers if you give them a tiny incentive, such as a kilo of beans."
She is generally liberal, but focuses more on what works, a "practical idealist," you might say, or perhaps what John F. Kennedy called himself, "an idealist without illusions." It is gratifying and encouraging to see that this up-and-coming French intellectual is devoting her considerable talents to the problem of poverty.
Photo: Getty images
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