Teaching the Book

This book grew, in part, out of years of teaching undergraduates and graduate students at MIT and elsewhere, and we hope that it can be used to support learning at various levels.

In the spring of 2011, we have been using the book for two courses: one, Challenges for World Poverty, an introductory course for students who do not have a background in economics. This course is a mix of lecture and discussion. Students read the book, as well as other papers, and they answer essay questions about the issues that they learn about. The second course, Foundations of Development Policies, is for advanced undergraduates and masters students.

In this section of the website, we provide the course materials from both. These materials include the lecture notes, assignments, and videos used throughout the course. We hope you will find this material useful as a supplementary resource to the book, and a way to enrich your learning experience.

Given that both courses are currently underway, this page will be regularly updated, so do check back often!

Esther Duflo / June 10, 2006 / MIT World

An introduction to the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), with some results from J-PAL randomized evaluations.

Esther Duflo / July 6, 2010 / Bocconi University

A lecture by Prof. Esther Duflo given to Bocconi University (Italy).

Esther Duflo / MIT 150+ Symposia

Prof. Esther Duflo's presentation during the MIT 150-year anniversary economics symposium's panel on macroeconomics, growth and development.

Abhijit Banerjee / Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

A six-part documentary examining global health challenges, with a particular focus on India.

Paul Collier / June 2, 2008 / TEDTalk

Prof. Paul Collier (University of Oxford) discusses the political and economic underpinnings to sound development in this 2008 TEDTalk.

Esther Duflo / College de France

(In French, with English dubbing.) Prof. Esther Duflo's series of lectures given at the College de France. In this lecture, Prof. Duflo explores issues of governance and political economy.

Esther Duflo / College de France

(In French, with English dubbing.) Prof. Esther Duflo's series of lectures given at the College de France. In this lecture, Prof. Duflo explores issues of governance and political economy.

Esther Duflo / College de France

(In French, with English dubbing.) Prof. Esther Duflo's series of lectures given at the College de France. In this lecture, Prof. Duflo explores issues of health.

Esther Duflo / College de France

(In French, with English dubbing.) Prof. Esther Duflo's series of lectures given at the College de France. In this lecture, Prof. Duflo explores issues of health.

Esther Duflo / February 1, 2010 / TEDTalk

Prof. Esther Duflo's TEDTalk outlining the use of randomized evaluations in determining micro-level solutions to global development challenges.