Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.

I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

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Today is November 16th, 2016, and my guest is Chris Blatman, the Ramley E. Pearson Professor

of Global Conflict Studies at the University of Chicago in the Harris School of Public Policy,

and a research associate at NBER, the National Bureau of Economic Research.

He previously appeared on Econ Talk in July of 2014, talking about giving cash to poor

people as a way to fight poverty as opposed to less direct methods.

And today he's back talking about a different research project he's been working on, trying

to figure out whether working in a factory is better for the poor, which is sometimes

called a sweatshop, than informal self-employment.

Chris, welcome back to Econ Talk.

Thank you.

Now you begin your paper, which is co-authored with Steph and Durkan pointing out that a lot

of anti-pobrity programs for in the name of development try to help poor people become

more successful entrepreneurers, they're typically self-employed.

Let's talk about what some of those programs are and what we've learned about their success

...