Quotes from Abhijit Banerjee

Students often say things that they will one day change their minds about, but also things that change our minds when we think about them.

The world's poorest people use the cheapest available fuels - dung and twigs and even leaves.

We will remember UPA 2, if at all, it seems, as that period when things went mysteriously wrong - for the bribe-taking, buck-passing, foot-dragging, and general sense of paralysis.

Healthcare expenses often wipe out families.

There is nothing remotely dignified about sorting through rotting trash to find something to feed your child, or asking someone for money because you have none (anyone who has contrived to give people money before they had to ask will never forget the look of gratitude in their eyes).

Gujarat is a pro-business state, where civil society organisations are comfortable with working to make sure that business does not suffer. Large parts of the rest of India, for better or worse, are very different.

The degree of political pressure to make MGNREGA jobs available varies massively from state to state - which is why access to MGNREGA jobs is worse in a very poor state like Bihar than in a richer state like Andhra Pradesh.

Milk production is one of India's great success stories.

The AAP from the beginning made it clear that they were about changing policy and not being a symbol of purity in a corrupt world.

When I was a graduate student, I actually took a course in development economics and I thought it was the most boring thing in the world.

If the BJP government, like the Congress party, had asked what were the numbers on the fraction of people under a particular income, would I have not told them the truth? I would have told them exactly. I would have been as willing.

The BJP must nurture the institutions that put credible checks and balances in place.