POVERTY: Testing the theories

In three areas, Duflo said her research techniques can help answer vital questions:
• Giving away bed nets treated with insecticide to prevent the spread of malaria works, despite fears by some that free nets would not be valued by recipients and might be used instead as fishing nets.
• If you want to enhance the effectiveness of the educational system in a developing country, you can sometimes have a great impact by indirect means. For example, if the nation is one where children suffer from intestinal worms, spending $100 on deworming the children can be many times more effective in getting them educated than simply spending the $100 on paying for teachers, school meals and other school expenses.
• In the Indian state of Rajasthan, Duflo found that by creating a monthly camp and giving away kilo-sized bags of lentils, there was a significant increase in the number of parents who brought their children to be immunized with potentially life-saving vaccines.
Duflo said, "It's not the Middle Ages anymore. It's the 21st century. And in the 20th century, randomized, controlled trials have revolutionized medicine by allowing us to distinguish between drugs that work and drugs that don't work. And you can do the same randomized, controlled trial for social policy. You can put social innovation to the same rigorous, scientific tests that we use for drugs."
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/04/duflo.fighting.poverty/?hpt=C2