Women’s empowerment and economic development: a feminist critique of story telling practices in ‘Randomista' economics

Naila Kabeer

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The 2019 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to three scholars on the grounds that their pioneering use of randomized control trials (RCTs) was innovative methodologically and contributed to development policy and the emergence of a new development economics. Using a critical feminist lens, this article challenges that conclusion by interrogating the storytelling practices deployed by “randomista” economists through a critical reading of a widely cited essay by Esther Duflo, one of the 2019 Nobel recipients, on the relationship between women’s empowerment and economic development. The paper argues that the limitations of randomista economics have given rise to a particular way of thinking characterized by piecemeal analysis, ad hoc resort to theory, indifference to history and context, and methodological fundamentalism. It concludes that the randomista argument that broad-based economic development alone – without focused attention to women’s rights – will lead to gender equality has not been borne out by recent data.

Keywords: empowerment; economic development; development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2020-05-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-his, nep-hme, nep-hpe and nep-pke
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published in Feminist Economics, 13, May, 2020, 26(2), pp. 1 - 26. ISSN: 1354-5701

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