How Good Are Ex Ante Program Evaluation Techniques? The Case of School Enrollment in PROGRESA
How Good Are Ex Ante Program Evaluation Techniques? The Case of School Enrollment in PROGRESA

Author: Fabian Bornhorst

Publisher: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Published: 2009-09-01

Total Pages: 35

ISBN-13: 9781451873344

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This paper evaluates a microsimulation technique by comparing the simulated outcome of a program with its actual effect. The ex ante evaluation is carried out for a conditional cash transfer program, where poor households were given money if the children attended school. A model of occupational choice is used to simulate the expected impact of the program. The results suggest that the transfer would indeed increase school attendance and do more so among girls than boys. While the simulated effect tends to be larger than the actual effect, the latter lies within bootstrapped confidence intervals of the simulation.

Ex-ante evaluation of conditional cash transfer programs : the case of bolsa escola
Ex-ante evaluation of conditional cash transfer programs : the case of bolsa escola

Author: François Bourguignon

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13:

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Cash transfers targeted to poor people, but conditional on some behavior on their part, such as school attendance or regular visits to health care facilities, are being adopted in a growing number of developing countries. Even where ex-post impact evaluations have been conducted, a number of policy-relevant counterfactual questions have remained unanswered. These are questions about the potential impact of changes in program design, such as benefit levels or the choice of the means-test, on both the current welfare and the behavioral response of household members. This paper proposes a method to simulate the effects of those alternative program designs on welfare and behavior, based on microeconometrically estimated models of household behavior. In an application to Brazil's recently introduced federal Bolsa Escola program, the authors find a surprisingly strong effect of the conditionality on school attendance, but a muted impact of the transfers on the reduction of current poverty and inequality levels.

Handbook on Impact Evaluation
Handbook on Impact Evaluation

Author: Shahidur R. Khandker

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 082138029X

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Public programs are designed to reach certain goals and beneficiaries. Methods to understand whether such programs actually work, as well as the level and nature of impacts on intended beneficiaries, are main themes of this book.

Evaluating the Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs
Evaluating the Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

Author: Laura B. Rawlings

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13:

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Unlike most development initiatives, conditional cash transfer programs recently introduced in the Latin America and the Caribbean region have been subject to rigorous evaluations of their effectiveness. These programs provide money to poor families, conditional on certain behavior, usually investments in human capital-such as sending children to school or bringing them to health centers on a regular basis. Rawlings and Rubio review the experience in evaluating the impact of these programs, exploring the application of experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation methods and summarizing results from programs launched in Brazil, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Evaluation results from the first generation of programs in Brazil, Mexico, and Nicaragua show that conditional cash transfer programs are effective in promoting human capital accumulation among poor households. There is clear evidence of success in increasing enrollment rates, improving preventive health care, and raising household consumption. Despite this promising evidence, many questions remain unanswered about the impact of conditional cash transfer programs, including those concerning their effectiveness under different country conditions and the sustainability of the welfare impacts.

Federal Program Evaluations
Federal Program Evaluations

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1981

Total Pages: 800

ISBN-13:

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Contains an inventory of evaluation reports produced by and for selected Federal agencies, including GAO evaluation reports that relate to the programs of those agencies.

Federal Evaluations
Federal Evaluations

Author:

Publisher:

Published:

Total Pages: 800

ISBN-13:

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Contains an inventory of evaluation reports produced by and for selected Federal agencies, including GAO evaluation reports that relate to the programs of those agencies.

Impact Evaluation in Practice, Second Edition
Impact Evaluation in Practice, Second Edition

Author: Paul J. Gertler

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2016-09-12

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 1464807809

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The second edition of the Impact Evaluation in Practice handbook is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to impact evaluation for policy makers and development practitioners. First published in 2011, it has been used widely across the development and academic communities. The book incorporates real-world examples to present practical guidelines for designing and implementing impact evaluations. Readers will gain an understanding of impact evaluations and the best ways to use them to design evidence-based policies and programs. The updated version covers the newest techniques for evaluating programs and includes state-of-the-art implementation advice, as well as an expanded set of examples and case studies that draw on recent development challenges. It also includes new material on research ethics and partnerships to conduct impact evaluation. The handbook is divided into four sections: Part One discusses what to evaluate and why; Part Two presents the main impact evaluation methods; Part Three addresses how to manage impact evaluations; Part Four reviews impact evaluation sampling and data collection. Case studies illustrate different applications of impact evaluations. The book links to complementary instructional material available online, including an applied case as well as questions and answers. The updated second edition will be a valuable resource for the international development community, universities, and policy makers looking to build better evidence around what works in development.