J‐PALEurope&EESCMay18th,2011

SocialExperimenta@oninAc@on

HélèneGiacobinoDirector

J‐PALEurope

SocialExperimenta@oninAc@on

HélèneGiacobinoDirector

J‐PALEurope

J‐PALEurope,EESC‐Brussels‐May18,2011

•  Anetworkofresearchersatuniversi@esaroundtheworld

•  Focusedonrandomizedevalua@ons

•  Foundedin2003byEstherDufloandAbhijitBanerjee,MITProfessorsofEconomics

J‐PAL:JameelPovertyAc@onLab

Buildcapacity

Improvepublicpolicies

Disseminatetheresults

Evaluatesocial

programs

J‐PAL

J‐PALtoday:5offices&56affiliates

•  Rigor:producingclearresults,easytocommunicate

•  Lessonlearning:findingthemosteffec@veprogramtoachieveapolicygoal

•  Accountability:givingdonorsandpolicymakersevidencetoselectbe]erprograms

Improvepublicpolicies

Whyrandomizedevalua@ons?

•  Whenweansweraprocessques@on,weneedtodescribewhathappened.

•  Whenweansweranimpactques@on,weneedtocomparewhathappenedtowhatwouldhavehappenedwithouttheprogram

Howimpactdiffersfromprocess?

6

•  Whatwouldhavehappenedintheabsenceoftheprogram?

•  Takethedifferencebetweenwhathappened(withtheprogram)…and

– whatwouldhavehappened(withouttheprogram)=IMPACToftheprogram

Howdeterminethe"impact"?

7

•  Graphiquedel’affecta@onaléatoire

Qu’est‐cequelarandomisa@on?RandomSampling

Non‐randomassignmentintotwogroups

2006

Average test scores

1000

500

0 Treatment Comparison

1457

947

Randomassignmentintotwogroups

Randomassignmentintothetreatmentorcomparisongroup

2006

Average test scores

1000

500

0

1457 1442

Treatment Comparison

11

BasedonOrr(1999)

TargetPopulation

Not in evaluation

Sample Population

Random Assignment

Treatment Group

Control Group

Basicsetupofarandomizedevalua@on

•  267randomizedevalua@onsin45countries

•  103arecompletedand164ongoing

Evalua@onsaroundtheworld