Esther Duflo Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences 2015

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, composed of Victoria Camps Cervera, Marta Elvira Rojo, María Garaña Corces, Isabel Gómez-Acebo y Duque de Estrada, Mauro Guillén Rodríguez, Enrique Krauze, Óscar Loureda Lamas, Adolfo Menéndez Menéndez, Manuel Menéndez Menéndez, José Manuel Otero Novas, Joseph Pérez, Rafael Puyol Antolín, Isaac Querub Caro y Amelia Valcárcel Bernaldo de Quirós, chaired by Carmen Iglesias Cano, Countess of Gisbert, and with Juan Vázquez García acting as secretary, has decided to grant the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences to French-American economist Esther Duflo for her innovative and decisive contributions to development economics and the study of policies to reduce poverty.

 Duflo has applied novel experimental methods to evaluate the effectiveness of policies to reduce economic and social inequality, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The results of her research have profoundly renewed the design of strategies in the fields of education, health, microfinance and employment. She is co-founder and co-director of MIT’s Poverty Action Lab, one of the largest global networks of researchers for the promotion of development.

 Oviedo, 13th May 2015