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STRIKING a BALANCE BETWEEN THEORY and ACTION

Stanford social innovation review, 2017-07, Vol.15 (3), p.48

Copyright Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford University Summer 2017 ;ISSN: 1542-7099 ;EISSN: 2687-7872

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  • Title:
    STRIKING a BALANCE BETWEEN THEORY and ACTION
  • Author: Bates, Mary Ann ; Glennerster, Rachel
  • Subjects: Developing countries ; Economics ; LDCs ; Poverty
  • Is Part Of: Stanford social innovation review, 2017-07, Vol.15 (3), p.48
  • Description: Kaushik Basu has argued that an impact evaluation done in Kenya can never tell us anything useful about what to do in Rwanda because we do not know with certainty that the results will generalize to Rwanda.2 To be sure, we will never be able to predict human behavior with certainty, but the aim of social science is to describe general patterns that are helpful guides, such as the prediction that, in general, demand falls when prices rise. In an effort to ensure that a program or policy makes sense locally, researchers such as Lant Pritchett and Justin Sandefur argue that policy makers should mainly rely on whatever evidence is available locally, even if it is not of very good quality.3 But while good local data are important, to suggest that decision makers should ignore all evidence from other countries, districts, or towns because of the risk that it might not generalize would be to waste a valuable resource. While there is still much that could be learned about the optimal design of these programs, it is unlikely to be the best use of limited funds to do a randomized impact evaluation for every new conditional cash transfer program when there are many other aspects of antipoverty policy that have not yet been rigorously tested. WPS 6722, World Bank Group. 3 See Lant Pritchett and Justin Sandefur, "Context Matters for Size: Why External Validity Claims and Development Practice Do Not Mix," Journal of Globalization and Development, vol. 4, no. 2,...
  • Publisher: Stanford: Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford University
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 1542-7099
    EISSN: 2687-7872
  • Source: ProQuest Central
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