Interdisciplinarity and the future of development studies after the 2019 Nobel Prize in economics

The 2019 Nobel prize for Economics consecrated A. Banerjee, E. Duflo and M. Kremer’s hegemony on development economics. The emphasis they put on field experiments and randomized control trials (RCTs) matched the emphasis on evidence-based policies and on evaluation that dominated the development sector in the same years. Here, we take inspiration from the debates generated by the 2019 Nobel prize to reflect on the future of development studies. While the empirical stance of these economists could have encouraged interdisciplinary collaboration, their experimental approach has tended to marginalize competing approaches and methods – namely, those who characterize anthropology and other qualitative social sciences. This has reinforced “imperialistic” tendencies in the discipline of economics, which can only be compensated through a renewed commitment to pluralism across the field of development studies.