Experiment and reason

Economic and medical RCTs have the same limitations: the difficulty of true randomisation, or that variations in individual outcomes might be large even if the average effect is favourable

The 2019 economics Nobel Prize for Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer (hereafter, BDK) offers much to celebrate for Indians, Bengalis and Frenchwomen among others. Designers, in their modern role as global problem solvers, should join in. They have much to be inspired by.

The practices of economics and design appear to have little in common. But they share common ground when it comes to intervening in real-world problems. Those, for instance, where poverty must be tackled (or hygiene improved, energy saved, or ever more cars parked).

Both these professions, along with businesses and governments, are one when their work interacts with