Syed Nageeb Ali

I encountered this book early on in my undergraduate years, and it was one of several inspirations to go into economics. Given my Bangladeshi roots, I had a natural interest in understanding more about well-being and poverty. The book, to me, typified the beauty of social science: that to understand fundamental human and social problems, researchers have to draw upon insights across disciplines, be driven by one’s inquiry with an open and curious mind rather than be constrained by methodology, and finally, to work very, very hard. Several months later, once I finished the book, I had a clear sense of what I would like to spend the rest of my life doing. And this is it.