Nobel prize winner in economics 2019 recognized the need for an experimental approach to reducing global poverty.
The awarding committee recognized the need for a practical experiment in understanding the root cause of poverty. Their research was used in the development in poor regions and countries and in just a few years, it has transformed development economics which is now a new field of study.
This is a worthy choice for the Nobel prize, but even so, there is no evidence that supports the idea that gaining this data showing the different causes of poverty will result in anything productive.
There is hope that effective social and economic policies in the developing world will NOT start and end with experiments.
Nobel prize concept in practice
Take the case of Mozambique, as an example, researchers embarked on a journey to try and understand the unemployment crisis in the developing world. In a survey termed as ‘school to work’ experiences, the information will be collected on young students’ backgrounds.
Two thousand students will be involved in this study. The research will also include psychometric tests and questions about what they are aspiring to do in the future.
The researchers, over the course of the next year, will follow the 2,000 students selected and determine what kind of work they have been able to get.
The researchers will also find out, in the cases of those who have not managed to get jobs, what they are doing with their lives.
The background of the study will help examine the nature of the job market in the developing world. Mozambique is a developing country, where each year, hundreds of thousands of youths are entering the job market.
Like all other developing nations, there are only a few jobs created to go around for everybody. This has created an imbalance and caused a severe unemployment crisis in the region.
Importance of understanding issues with data
What does this have to do with the Nobel prize? The truth is, before the 2000s, the experimental data on poverty and developing nations was little or unavailable.
Research data have proven to be of importance in understanding such issues because data collected is high-quality empirical data of concrete evidence in the lives of the global poor.
Therefore, when these efforts were recognized, it was an affirmation that the committee has come to the realization that this data is important in the fight against global poverty.
The researchers have explained that they want to find out what works because this will help them in understanding the underlying issues in the fight against poverty.
In Mozambique, the researchers have said that data should not be ignored for such an environment. They emphasized the need for creating and sustaining the broad church of evidence of different types. They also emphasized on having multiple perspectives of any given problem.
Diagnosing the root cause of poverty by policymakers before prescribing treatment strategy should be the emphasis as some critics contend. These should be taught to future economists in developing worlds. They should also be made aware that different pieces of evidence should not be ignored.
Mechanics of the Nobel Prize
Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, industrialist, and businessman who developed a safe way to detonate the dynamite. One of his primary strengths was his ability to combine the imaginative and explorative mind of the scientist and inventor with the forward-thinking of the industrialist.
Nobel was also very interested in social and peace-related issues and held what many considered to be radical views in his era. He likewise maintained a great interest in literature and wrote his own poetry and dramatic works.
After many years spent traveling and establishing laboratories in twenty different countries, Alfred Nobel died in San Remo, Italy, on December 10, 1896. He was sixty-three years old.
When Nobel’s will was unsealed, it came as a surprise to many that his fortune – equivalent to $265 million in 2015 dollars – was to be used to endow prizes honoring high achievement in the arts, sciences, and peace activism.
