MIT 14.73 The Challenge of World Poverty, Spring 2011

This is a course for those who are interested in the challenge posed by massive and persistent world poverty, and are hopeful that economists might have something useful to say about this challenge. Created by MIT OpenCourseWare.


Average Course Length

35 hours


Skill Level

Intermediate



Pick a lesson


1: Introduction
2: What is a Poverty Trap?
3: Social Experiments: Why and How?
4: Is There a Nutrition-Based Poverty Trap?
5: Nutrition: The Hidden Traps
6: Health: Low Hanging Fruit?
7: Education: Setting the Stage
8: Is It Possible to Deliver Quality Education to the Poor-The Pratham-JPAL Partnership
9: Education: The Man Made Trap
10: (Somewhat) Un-Orthodox Findings on the Family
11: How Do Families Decide?
12: Gender Discrimination
13: Risk and Insurance
14: Insurance
15: The (Not So Simple) Economics of Lending to the Poor
16: The Promise and Perils of Microfinance
17: Savings
18: Savings 2
19: Entrepreneurs and Workers
20: Policies, Politics: Can Evidence Play a Role in the Fight Against Poverty?
21: Policies, Politics: Can Evidence Play a Role in the Fight Against Poverty?, cont.
22: Five Thoughts in Place of a Sweeing Conclusion