By Julián Aramburu and Lina Salazar Nothing is more annoying than a fly buzzing around your head. But flies can be much more than an annoyance: fruit flies, for example, are one of the most harmful threats to fruit production in Peru, damaging crops by laying their eggs within the fruit. Since 1990, Peru’s fruit and vegetable exports have increased at an average … [Read more...] about Small Bug, Big Trouble: The Fruit Fly Plague in Peru
How to measure the effectiveness of development projects?
By Arturo J. Galindo y Tracy Betts For those of us working in the field of international development, it’s more and more critical to understand what works, what doesn’t work, and why to be able to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of what we do. That’s the reason why it is of utmost importance for a multilateral organization such as the Inter-American … [Read more...] about How to measure the effectiveness of development projects?
Would you leave your children home alone while at work?
By Claudia Piras Free daycare services do not ensure a significant increase in women’s participation in the labor market. Why? The results of an after-school activities program in Chile may have the answer. What is the most common reason given by women when asked why they are not looking for a job? Just what you might think: because they have to take care of their … [Read more...] about Would you leave your children home alone while at work?
How much do impact evaluations (really) help policymaking?
by Eva Vivalt. Increasingly rigorous studies have been done on the effects of development programs with the hope that these studies' results will inform policy decisions. However, the same program often has different effects in different contexts. There are many different variables that can affect what will happen. The key question is then: to what extent can we … [Read more...] about How much do impact evaluations (really) help policymaking?
How Do We Know if We Are Improving Lives? Multidimensional Poverty and Subjective Well-Being
The mission of the IDB is to work with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to improve the lives of their citizens. However, this process is not an exact science, so it is not always easy to ascertain whether that objective is being achieved. How can we know for certain that Bank-supported projects are helping people live more prosperously? Responding to this … [Read more...] about How Do We Know if We Are Improving Lives? Multidimensional Poverty and Subjective Well-Being