Econ

1): In Esther Duflos talk on TED.com, she starts by making the claim that we simply do not know whether foreign aid has been effective, and then proposes several alternate policies where she says we do have evidence that they are effective at reducing poverty.
A): Why does Duflo argue that we do not know whether foreign aid has been effective?
B): Discuss the arguments that Duflo highlights in the debate on whether to give bednets for free. What does she conclude from that debate? Why does she conclude it?
C): What policies does Duflo identify as having been effective in solving policy?
2): Explain how nutritional constraints could create a poverty trap. Be sure to draw and motivate the production function that creates such a poverty trap. In Poor Economics, Banerjee and Duflo discuss results from a study by John Strauss in Sierra Leone on the underlying production function: describe the results of that study, and draw the production function that it estimates. Do these results support the idea of a nutritional poverty trap? What other arguments are provided in favor or against the presence of a nutritional poverty trap?