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Esther Duflo

Esther Duflo

Award Badge
Economics and Finance
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Economics and Finance

D-Index
108
Citations
91857
World Ranking
65
National Ranking
53

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Economics and Finance in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Economics and Finance in United States Leader Award
  • 2024 - Research.com Economics and Finance in United States Leader Award
  • 2019 - Nobel Prize for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty
  • 2019 - Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economics for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty
  • 2017 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2016 - Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
  • 2010 - John Bates Clark Medal, the American Economic Association
  • 2010 - Fellows of the Econometric Society
  • 2009 - Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation
  • 2009 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 2002 - Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Overview

What is she best known for?

The fields of study she is best known for:

  • Law
  • World War II
  • Statistics

Esther Duflo mainly focuses on Demographic economics, Randomized experiment, Economic growth, Income distribution and Demography. Esther Duflo combines subjects such as Incentive, Microfinance, Private good and Shock with her study of Demographic economics. Her Randomized experiment research includes themes of Medical education, Remedial education, Numeracy, Literacy and Attendance.

Esther Duflo has included themes like Government and Per capita in her Economic growth study. Her Income distribution research focuses on Human development and how it connects with Development economics and Indonesian government. As a member of one scientific family, Esther Duflo mostly works in the field of Demography, focusing on Social pension and, on occasion, Per capita income.

Her most cited work include:

  • How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates? (5245 citations)
  • Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment (1127 citations)
  • WOMEN AS POLICY MAKERS: EVIDENCE FROM A RANDOMIZED POLICY EXPERIMENT IN INDIA (1086 citations)

What are the main themes of her work throughout her whole career to date?

Her primary scientific interests are in Developing country, Randomized experiment, Incentive, Rural area and Economic growth. Her study brings together the fields of Demographic economics and Developing country. Esther Duflo has researched Randomized experiment in several fields, including Attendance and Labour economics.

In her research, Esther Duflo undertakes multidisciplinary study on Incentive and Psychological intervention. Esther Duflo usually deals with Rural area and limits it to topics linked to Public good and Position. As part of her studies on Economic growth, Esther Duflo often connects relevant areas like Politics.

She most often published in these fields:

  • Developing country (11.47%)
  • Randomized experiment (10.29%)
  • Incentive (10.00%)

What were the highlights of her more recent work (between 2016-2021)?

  • Artificial intelligence (4.12%)
  • Machine learning (4.12%)
  • Microfinance (7.94%)

In recent papers she was focusing on the following fields of study:

Esther Duflo mostly deals with Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, Microfinance, Overfitting and Replication. Her biological study spans a wide range of topics, including Randomized experiment, Linear regression and Replication. Esther Duflo interconnects Social network, Matching, Control, Labour economics and Fixed cost in the investigation of issues within Microfinance.

Esther Duflo studied Social network and Institution that intersect with Demographic economics and Social capital. Her research in Overfitting intersects with topics in Estimator, Estimating equations, Regularization, Lasso and Random forest. Her research integrates issues of Incentive, Development economics, Happiness and Process management in her study of Replication.

Between 2016 and 2021, her most popular works were:

  • Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters (401 citations)
  • Double/Debiased/Neyman Machine Learning of Treatment Effects (78 citations)
  • The Economist as Plumber (58 citations)

In her most recent research, the most cited papers focused on:

  • Law
  • World War II
  • Statistics

Her primary areas of investigation include Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, Random forest, Overfitting and Artificial neural network. Her Artificial intelligence research integrates issues from Average treatment effect, Observational study, Statistics and Econometrics. Her Random forest research incorporates themes from Linear regression, Estimator, Estimating equations, Regularization and Lasso.

Her Estimator study frequently involves adjacent topics like Statistical theory. The concepts of her Artificial neural network study are interwoven with issues in Ensemble learning, Randomized experiment and Inference. Her Inference research incorporates elements of Estimation theory and Nominal level, Confidence interval.

Best Publications

  • How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?

    Marianne Bertrand;Esther Duflo;Sendhil Mullainathan

  • Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty

    Abhijit V. Banerjee;Esther Duflo

  • Women Empowerment and Economic Development

    Esther Duflo

  • The miracle of microfinance? Evidence from a randomized evaluation

    Abhijit Banerjee;Esther Duflo;Rachel Glennerster;Cynthia Kinnan

  • Double/Debiased Machine Learning for Treatment and Structural Parameters

    Victor Chernozhukov;Denis Chetverikov;Mert Demirer;Esther Duflo

  • Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment

    Esther Duflo

  • WOMEN AS POLICY MAKERS: EVIDENCE FROM A RANDOMIZED POLICY EXPERIMENT IN INDIA

    Raghabendra Chattopadhyay;Esther Duflo

  • The Economic Lives of the Poor.

    Abhijit V. Banerjee;Esther Duflo

  • Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old‐Age Pensions and Intrahousehold Allocation in South Africa

    Esther Duflo

  • Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit

    Esther Duflo;Rachel Glennerster;Michael Kremer

  • The role of information and social interactions in retirement plan decisions: Evidence from a randomized experiment

    Esther Duflo;Emmanuel Saez

  • The Diffusion of Microfinance

    Abhijit Banerjee;Arun G. Chandrasekhar;Arun G. Chandrasekhar;Esther Duflo;Matthew O. Jackson;Matthew O. Jackson;Matthew O. Jackson

  • Remedying education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in india

    Abhijit V. Banerjee;Shawn Cole;Esther Duflo;Leigh L Linden

  • Inequality and Growth: What Can the Data Say?

    Abhijit V. Banerjee;Esther Duflo

  • The Role of Information and Social Interactions in Retirement Plan Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

    Esther Duflo;Emmanuel Saez

  • Peer Effects, Teacher Incentives, and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya

    Esther Duflo;Pascaline Dupas;Michael Kremer

  • Nudging Farmers to Use Fertilizer: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Kenya

    Esther Duflo;Michael Kremer;Jonathan Robinson

  • Growth Theory through the Lens of Development Economics

    Abhijit V. Banerjee;Esther Duflo

  • Powerful Women: Does Exposure Reduce Bias?

    Lori Beaman;Raghabendra Chattopadhyay;Esther Duflo;Rohini Pande

  • On the road: Access to transportation infrastructure and economic growth in China

    Abhijit Banerjee;Esther Duflo;Nancy Qian

  • Double/Debiased Machine Learning for Treatment and Structural Parameters

    Victor Chernozhukov;Denis Chetverikov;Mert Demirer;Esther Duflo

  • Report of the Editor: American Economic Review

    Esther Duflo

  • Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Cote D'Ivoire: Social Norms, Separate Accounts and Consumption Choices

    Esther Duflo;Christopher R. Udry

  • Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters

    Victor Chernozhukov;Denis Chetverikov;Mert Demirer;Esther Duflo

  • A multifaceted program causes lasting progress for the very poor: Evidence from six countries

    Abhijit Banerjee;Esther Duflo;Nathanael Goldberg;Dean Karlan

Frequent Co-Authors

Michael Kremer
Michael Kremer University of Chicago
Rohini Pande
Rohini Pande Yale University
Michael Greenstone
Michael Greenstone University of Chicago
Matthew O. Jackson
Matthew O. Jackson Stanford University
Emmanuel Saez
Emmanuel Saez University of California, Berkeley
Marianne Bertrand
Marianne Bertrand University of Chicago
Petia Topalova
Petia Topalova International Monetary Fund
Shawn Cole
Shawn Cole Harvard University

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