Pragmatic Optimism: How Behavioral Economics is Helping to Solve Global Poverty

Yale economist Dean Karlan is coauthor of More Than Good Intentions: Improving the Ways the World's Poor Borrow, Save, Farm, Learn, and Stay Healthy. His work demonstrates how small changes in development initiatives can drastically improve the well being of the poor. Karlan is a development economist who uses insights from behavioral and experimental economics in his work. Behavioral economics is an emerging field that focuses on how psychological barriers and emotional factors can lead to irrational choices in the decision-making process. Karlan uses randomized evaluations to develop and test solutions to real-world problems facing the poor. Much of his research is focused on micro finance. He is the founder and president of Innovation for Poverty Action. His work to improve the financial capabilities of low and moderate-income individuals around the world has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as Citi Foundation. Part of the World Affairs Series.