The Rhetorical Superiority of Poor Economics

Agnès Labrousse ()
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Agnès Labrousse: CRIISEA - Centre de Recherche sur les Institutions, l'Industrie et les Systèmes Économiques d'Amiens - UR UPJV 3908 - UPJV - Université de Picardie Jules Verne

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Abstract: This textual analysis highlights the rhetorical prowess of Poor Economics and argues that it is part of the puzzling success of RCTs in economics. It shows how Banerjee and Duflo combine effectively (1) logos (rational discourse, figures, extensive use of numbers), (2) pathos (striking anecdotes to move the reader, personified figures) and (3) ethos (the narrators exhibit wisdom, excellence, and good will). Despite their explicit discard of anecdotes, the authors make ubiquitous use of them. This becomes less paradoxical when considering their manifold persuasive functions. Anecdotes additionally have an understated but inchoate heuristic role. This chapter also scrutinizes two impactful rhetorical schemes: the sensible middle ground between two extremes, and the rhetoric of small measures producing big effects, which magnifies the micro and minimizes the macro. This canny, partly manipulative, rhetoric should not overshadow the thinness of its storytelling and the extent of blind spots in RCTs revealed by what is out-of-discourse.

Date: 2020-09-17
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Published in Bédécarrats, Florent; Guérin, Isabelle; Roubaud, François. Randomized Control Trials in the Field of Development, Oxford University Press, pp.227-255, 2020, ⟨10.1093/oso/9780198865360.003.0010⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03380397

DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198865360.003.0010

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