The Role of Social Skills and Networks in the Fight against Poverty

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Martin Valdivia

Senior Researcher, Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE) Lima, Peru
Visiting Research Scholar, University of Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas

 

April 4, 2017

Development economics devoted decades to addressing key market failures and made some progress in poverty reduction, but far from sufficient. With the help of behavioral sciences, the current development agenda addresses the individual. In his presentation, Dr. Valdivia argued that behavioral constraints affect the way the poor interact with markets, for example by taking them away from rational decision-making. The author presented some key examples of studies about entrepreneurship and financial inclusion that address such questions in the Latin American context.