Poverty

The high value of water

Study: People willing to pay more for running water report much higher levels of happiness when they have it.

January 14, 2013

Esther Duflo, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics

President Obama announces intent to appoint Esther Duflo to Global Development Council

MIT development economist nominated for presidential policy council.

January 3, 2013

A mango crusher in Chipata, Zambia. As part of a design challenge to get more value from mangos, participants in D-Lab's Creative Capacity Building training session built a device for crushing mangos and extracting the juice. This project was part of a D-Lab trip to establish an Appropriate Technology Center with the Peace Corps in 2011.

MIT a linchpin of major new USAID program

Institute researchers aim to spur development and evaluation of useful technologies to help the world’s poor.

November 8, 2012

Current D-Lab Scale-Ups fellows and researchers.

D-Lab Scale-Ups program offers $20,000 in seed funds to MIT alumni social entrepreneurs

Proposals for 'Phase II' one-year fellowships due Oct. 5

September 26, 2012

Stephanie Lin, an MIT senior who is majoring in biology with a minor in applied international studies, has received a Rhodes Scholarship

MIT senior Stephanie Lin wins Rhodes Scholarship

Student in biology, applied international studies will study at Oxford next year.

November 20, 2011

The interior of the house designed by Ying chee Chui as part of MIT's 1K House project.

A true bargain house

First prototype built from MIT’s effort to construct houses for $1,000 each.

September 15, 2011

Close-up of a horn. The right half has a blue overlay, coloring the french horn blue. There is an orange square overlaying both halves at the bottom center.

Said and Done

Humanities, arts and social sciences digest for July/August 2011.

August 17, 2011

Many roads in rural Indonesia are built using informal local taxes.

Taxation without documentation

New study shows ‘informal taxation’ in developing countries is far greater than suspected, supporting public works — and adding a burden for the poor.

May 25, 2011

Ghanasco Dugout, Tamale, Ghana — a typical water-collection area for the villages in the region

In the World: New water-filter factory in Ghana

After years of development, production of ceramic-pot water filters should soar with opening of new facility.

May 6, 2011

Children collecting water as part of a J-PAL study in western Kenya.

Life on a dollar a day

In Poor Economics, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo open a window into the lives of the world’s poorest people, and suggest new remedies to combat poverty.

April 26, 2011