Speaker(s): Professor Abhijit Banerjee, Professor Esther Duflo | Can economics be harnessed for the common good? Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo’s latest book Good Economics for Hard Times, which they will discuss in this talk, makes the case for how economics can help us solve the toughest problems in some of the poorest places in the world. Based on a body of work that was awarded the Nobel in economics sciences, the book offers hope and practical solutions for a world without poverty. Abhijit Banerjee is the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2003 he co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) with Esther Duflo. Abhijit is the author of a large number of articles and four books, including Good Economics for Hard Times, co-authored with Esther Duflo. Banerjee has served on the U.N. Secretary-General’s High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. He is a co-recipient of the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his ground breaking work in development economics research. You can order the book, Good Economics for Hard Times, (UK delivery only) from our official LSE Events independent book shop, Pages of Hackney.Esther Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). In her research, she seeks to understand the economic lives of the poor, with the aim to help design and evaluate social policies. She has worked on health, education, financial inclusion, environment and governance. Duflo has received numerous academic honors and prizes including the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (awarded jointly with Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer). Oriana Bandiera (@orianabandiera) is Director of STICERD and Sir Anthony Atkinson Chair of Economics. The Morishima lecture series is held in honour of Professor Michio Morishima (1923-2004), Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics at LSE and STICERD's first chairman. STICERD (@STICERD_LSE) brings together world-class academics to put economics and related disciplines at the forefront of research and policy. Founded in 1978 by the renowned Japanese economist Michio Morishima, with donations from Suntory and Toyota, we are a thriving research community within the LSE. Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEMorishimaLecture