After receiving the Shera’s Shera at the STAR Ananda Shera Bangali Awards 2012, Abhijit Banerjee sat down with the Telegraph for an interview.

The purpose of randomized control trials is not to debunk the idea of helping poor countries. On the contrary, such work bolsters the case for aid by ensuring that dollars are well spent.

The Computer Access Mentorship Program (CAMP) is a step into the future for a program that has successfully served 882 public schools, 24,654 public school teachers, and a little over a million students, as well as distributed almost 204,000 children’s books over the course of 12 years.

It sounds too good to be true: If we could just swap out dirty indoor cooking stoves in the developing world with cleaner versions, we could cut pollution, save lives, and slow climate change. Promising, yes? But, like most things that sound too good to be true, it’s not that easy.

While the initiatives One Laptop Per Child and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves had disappointing results, one only has to look at the success of M-PESA, Kenya's mobile money platform, to appreciate the implications technology can have for development. 

J-PAL Affiliate Edward Miguel is among five Berkeley faculty that are being lauded this week, not only for their particular and highly developed expertise but for their exceptional ability to challenge and engage their students.

Abhijit Banerjee talks to The Guardian about why aid that assumes the poor will do the right thing is misguided, and why political corruption does not necessarily mean economic stagnation.

A J-PAL study shows that a lot more research and experimentation is needed to better understand the barriers of improved cookstove adoption before the roll out of another large-scale cookstove delivery program to reduce indoor air pollution. 

The World Health Organization estimates that indoor air pollution kills 2 million people every year, but a J-PAL study suggests the replacement stoves may not make any difference.

Chlorine dispensers become a simple yet crucial solution to provide clean water in Haiti during a Cholera outbreak. 

This January in Davos, Prime Minister Odinga of Kenya promised to deworm five million children annually until 2017, Bihar is readying for the second round of deworming this May, and Delhi has pledged another deworming day this summer.

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo document in their book “Poor Economics” that when poor households get some extra money to spend, they might not spend it on food or sanitation, but instead splurge on a television set or a lavish wedding celebration.

Abhijit Banerjee discusses development goals for global poverty in a podcast recorded at The Guardian's Open weekend.

Dean Karlan describes how the first wave of randomized controlled trials in microfinance helped figure out the impact on everybody who received the treatment. What has started to come out is a more complex story.

Abhijit Banerjee argues that we need two different poverty lines: an ethical poverty line to describe the standard we should aspire to and an administrative poverty line, which tells us how to best target our limited resources.

Citing research from Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman, the article suggests that microlending should be targeted for startup investments and training that can build durable financial institutions.

Development economists, including Abhijit Banerjee and Rohini Pande, write an open letter to the Prime Minister of India proposing a simpler and more effective framework for the National Food Security Bill.

Quality matters as much as quantity in expanding financial services to the poor, suggests a paper from J-PAL Affiliate Pascaline Dupas.

Technologies exist that would ensure universal access to mobile technologies at prices vastly more accessible to those living in poverty than what is currently on offer.

The poor aren't less able, they're distracted. Privileged people subjected to the same conditions would also make bad decisions.

Francisco Gallego and Cristobal Marshall - motivated by a recent announcement that the Chilean government will start announcing cases of corruption under investigation - explain the positive impact that the availability of information can have on governance issues.

J-PAL Director Rachel Glennerster explains why proper evaluation of policy is crucial at the the Institute for Government. 

An economist specializing in questions of poverty and development, Esther Duflo invites us to change our perspective on the poorest of the poor, and consider a form of enlightened paternalism.

Despite the efforts of the UN, a large proportion of the world's population remains desperately poor. According to Esther Duflo and Martin Hirsch, it is time to find new weapons to tackle this scourge.

Small loans probably won't lift people out of poverty or empower women. But that doesn't mean they're useless.

When it comes to global poverty, there’s often a gap between the billions we pour in and the outcomes that actually result; Dean Karlan is trying to uncover the reasons behind this gap.

Francisco Gallego, scientific director of J-PAL Latin America, recommends Poor Economics to Chilean readers, highlighting the book's key points and explaining the book's importance in the Chilean context. 

The real influence of the Gates Foundation isn't so much the actual amount of cash that it hands out–though considerable–but that they base philanthropy on the most cost-effective, proven solutions.

While some dismiss the quota system as one that clashes with the ideals of the democratic process, there is evidence that these laws help create female role models, and improve educational and professional opportunities for young women.

Why small increases in price can lead to a steep decline in demand for essential health products.

J-PAL affiliate Sendhil Mullainathan is honored in Wired UK's magazine as one of 50 people who will change the world.

Ryan Cooper, executive director of J-PAL Latin America and the Carribean, and Francisco Gallego, scientific director, discuss the current projects of J-PAL LAC as well as its direction for the future in the region.

An extract from the newly released book "Repenser la pauvreté"
is featured on Les Echos.

A new book, "Repenser la Pauvreté", says that the problems of the poor require careful understanding, if you truly want to help.

The fate of the middle class is a very sensitive subject in France.

In Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee's new book "Repenser la pauvreté", the renowned economists argue that economics can benefit from concrete facts based on field experiments.

A little more concrete could save the world. Separate studies by J-PAL affiliates Paul Gertler and Marco Gonzalez-Navarro reveal the various benefits of concrete.