Trish Barasa

I recently finished reading "Good Economics for Hard Times" by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo. There is an honesty to calling out complex issues with an economic nuance and an open mind by the authors that resonates with me and which I find authentic. It is a rather refreshing perspective of the most hard pressing socio-economic turned political issues society faces today. Rather than offering simplistic, one-size-fits-all solutions, they acknowledge the complexity of the problems and admit to the possibility that there are no magic bullets, yet offer a range of potential solutions. The fact is, inequalities are no longer the order of the day or BAU; we must address them. My county Kenya has just come from a divisive election within the context of pervasive inequalities. This happening in a developing nation would interest one to note that we similarly have a few of the world’s wealthiest within us benefiting from the public sector. Reading through the book and it felt like I was in a rabbit hole. For us, these inequalities threaten our existence every day with a call for a more responsive government from the opposition through protests. In their very essence, the protests threaten our stability as opportunistic and incidental crime incidents creep up through them. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the economic challenges facing our world today.