Economics and Real World Impact with Dr. Sara Ellison & Prof. Esther Duflo
[THEME MUSIC] SARAH HANSEN: Today on Chalk Radio: how economics has become a powerful and collaborative tool with real-world impact. ESTHER DUFLO: I realized that economics was the answer to my dream of having an academic career, while having an influence on the world right here and now. SARAH HANSEN: For this episode, I'm joined by two illustrious guests-- Dr. Sara Ellison, a senior lecturer in the MIT Economics Department, and Professor Esther Duflo, a Nobel laureate and co-director of J-PAL the Jameel Abdul Latif Poverty Action Lab. Sara and Esther have spent much of their careers looking at how the field of economics can aid in providing equitable outcomes and better policies using data. Together, they developed the course 14.310x, Data Analysis for social Scientists, which you can find on MITx and MIT OpenCourseWare. Sara and Esther were both in France at the time of this interview. But lucky for us, they were willing to connect and explain how they got into econ...