Esther Duflo is a French economist and the winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics along with Abhijit Banerjee and Micheal Kremer.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Esther Duflo was born on Wednesday, 25 November 1972 (age 47 years; as in 2019) in Paris, France. Her zodiac sign is Scorpio. She did her schooling from the Lycée Henri-IV school in Paris, France. In 1994, she pursued Maîtrise in History and Economics from the École Normale Supérieure College. In 1995, she pursued a Masters in Economics from the DELTA College. In 1999, she did her PhD in Economics from MIT.
Esther Duflo during her younger days
Esther’s field of study is Social Economics and Development Economics. When she was pursuing her PhD, her doctoral advisors were Abhijit Banerjee and Joshua Angrist, and her thesis was “Essays in Empirical Development Economics”. Abhijit was a professor at MIT when she was pursuing her PhD.
Esther Duflo with Abhijit Banerjee at MIT
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 5″
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Dark Brown
Esther Duflo during a lecture
Family & Husband
Esther Duflo is a French American Economist. Her father, Michel Duflo, is a mathematician. Her mother, Violaine Duflo, is a paediatrician. Her younger sister, Annie Duflo, is an Economist. In 2015, Esther got married to Abhijit Banerjee, an Indian American economist. They had a baby together in 2012.
Esther Duflo’s father Michel Duflo
Esther Duflo (centre) with her mother Violaine Duflo (left)
Esther Duflo’s sister Annie Duflo
Esther Duflo with her husband Abhijit Banerjee
Career
In 1993, while Esther was pursuing her PhD she spent ten months in Moscow, where she used to teach French and worked on a history thesis describing “How the Soviet Union had used big construction sites, like the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, for propaganda, and how propaganda requirements changed the actual shape of the projects.” In 1999, after completing her PhD, she was hired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an Assistant Professor. In 2001, she was offered a tenured position at MIT. In 2002, she was promoted as an Associate Professor.
Esther Duflo during a lecture
Esther is the founding editor of the American Economic Journal- “Applied Economics”. In 2011, she authored the book “Poor Economics,” which was globally acclaimed. She worked with Abhijit Banerjee in the field of Development Economics, and they worked on discovering causal relationships in economics by using field experiments as an important methodology. On 14 October 2019, Esther Duflo was honoured with the Nobel Prize in Economics, with her husband Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer (an American economist), for their work in alleviating global poverty.
Esther Duflo being honoured with the Nobel Prize
Books Authored
- Expérience, science et lutter contre la pauvreté (2009)
- Le Développement Humain- Volume 1 & 2 (2010)
- Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty (2011)
- Handbook of Field Experiments- Volume 1 & 2 (2017)
- Good Economics for Hard Times (2019)
- Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems (2019)
Awards, Honours, and Fellowships
- Best Young French Economist, Cercle des économistes, 2005
- Named in the “Top 100 Intellectuals in the World” by the “Foreign Policy” Magazine in May 2008
- Fellow of the “MacArthur Foundation” in 2009
- Fellow of the “American Academy of Arts and Sciences” in 2009
- Calvó-Armengol International Prize (announced on 21 May 2009, received on 4 June 2010)
- John Bates Clark Medal, 2010
- Named in Fortunes “40 under 40” List, 2010
- Honorary Doctorate from the “Université Catholique de Louvain” on 2 February 2010
- Named in the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” by the “Foreign Policy” Magazine in 2010
- Named in the “Top 8 Young Economists in the World” by “The Economist” Magazine in 2010
- Named in the “100 Most Influential People in the World” by “Time Magazine” in 2011
- Named in the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” by the “Foreign Policy” Magazine in 2012
- Gerald Loeb Award, 2012
- Honoured as an “Officer of the French Order of Merit” in 2013
- John von Neumann Award, Rajk László College for Advanced Studies, 2013
- Infosys Prize in Social Science-Economics, 2014
- Princess of Asturias Social Sciences Award, 2015
- A.SK Social Sciences Award, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, 2015
- Nobel Prize in Economics in 2019
Facts/Trivia
- Esther was interested in History and wanted to pursue a career in politics or civil service when she was an undergraduate.
Esther Duflo in her younger days
- In 2001, at the age of 29, when she was offered a tenured position at MIT, she became the youngest person ever to be offered a tenured position.
- In 2012, when Esther had a baby with Abhijit Banerjee, he was still married to his first wife, Arundhati Tuli Banerjee.
Esther Duflo with Abhijit Banerjee
- She is the youngest woman to win a Nobel Prize in Economics.
Esther Duflo receiving the Nobel Prize
