Esther Duflo: "I fear that this crisis will lead to increased empowerment"

By Amanda Mars (El Pais)

"Recession is when your neighbor loses his job, depression is when you lose yours". On March 12, the building of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where our first interview took place still seemed foreign to the global storm caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has turned our lives and the economy upside down. The students were dragging the carefree air in the corridors, although a mask here and there suggested that something was wrong. On arriving at the office of Professor Esther Duflo (Paris, 1972), greetings a meter away and a mutual shrug only confirmed the start of this gloomy period. In the days that followed, everything gradually collapsed and even this strange meeting suddenly seemed surreal.

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