The influence of the 2019 nobel prize winners on agricultural economics

The work of Banerjee, Duflo, and Kremer has had positive effects on the study of agricultural economics in developing countries, well beyond the rapid expansion of the application of randomized controlled trials to the field. There are two primary ways their work has been influential. First, the two papers by Duflo, Kremer, and Robinson, the first on returns to fertilizer (2008) and the second on its adoption (2011) have catalyzed substantial thinking about behavioral constraints to agricultural input use. Second, the work of all three laureates to measure and even define peer effects, both in theory and in application to education and health contexts, has had important spillovers into agricultural economics. The latter will be useful in considering the most effective ways to disseminate information to smallholders. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.