The application of Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) in public policy is widespread in developed countries. For more than 50 years major public policy decisions in the US have been subject to CBA rules. The current framework was established by Presidential Executive Order 12866 which on September 30 1993 established CBA as a pivotal element in the American regulatory … [Read more...] about The dirty laundry of benefit estimation
Evaluation methods and techniques
Try, learn, iterate, adapt
Lant Pritchett’s alternative road to development effectiveness by Gastón Gertner* Is my work at IDB so far from this road? A few weeks ago, I sat at an Impact Evaluation Seminar organized by the Office of Evaluation & Oversight at the Inter-American Development Bank. Lant Pritchett delivered a provocative presentation: a sassy cocktail mix equally balanced in wit, … [Read more...] about Try, learn, iterate, adapt
Five steps you need in education evaluation
One thing that you probably needed when you first learned how to count was your ten fingers (or twenty if you count your toes too). So it is very handy that the IDBs new Guide on evaluating education projects comes in five steps. Not easy steps, mind you, but if you take them one at a time, it will save you a lot of time next time you want to know if hiring extra teachers is … [Read more...] about Five steps you need in education evaluation
In the long run we are all dead
Discounting future flows is a critical step in Cost Benefit or Cost Effectiveness. Many institutions still use relatively high discount rates, which might not be applicable to projects where benefits-or costs- will happen way in the future in a world of rapidly declining cost of capital. Is it time to reconsider discount rates estimates for development projects, particularly in … [Read more...] about In the long run we are all dead
“Running raffles”: random assignment in the field
By Gastón Gertner and Lucas Figal Garone* In one of the case study panels in our Surveys and Impact Evaluation Workshop in Santiago this week (#Taller_EEiPP), we discussed a topic that is clearly not trivial for Impact Evaluations. How can we implement a random assignment of beneficiaries when the possibility of doing so at a desk or an office with computer-programmed … [Read more...] about “Running raffles”: random assignment in the field