A critical analysis of a randomized controlled trial evaluation in Mexico
Norm, mistake or exemplar
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12567705 |
|---|---|
| Authors | William N Faulkner (PlanPP, Brazil, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 230-243 |
| Publication date | 2014-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Evaluation (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1356-3890 • E-ISSN: 1461-7153 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1356389014528602 |
| OpenAlex | W2317626702 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 25 |
During the early stages of their flagship anti-poverty program, Progresa, Mexican officials contracted an evaluation team from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). This article critically revisits the narrative of how this randomized controlled trial (RCT) was implemented, finding a number of significant omissions and ambiguities. By profiling the available information against the intellectual background of RCTs in international development evaluation and the political context of the project, the analysis extracts lessons about how results may be shaped, both during and after their production, by socio-political forces. These lessons derive two invitations: (1) for the proponents of RCTs in the field of international development evaluation to critically and reflexively consider the problematic framing of the methodology in this case study and what the implications might be for other similar projects; (2) for evaluators critical of how RCTs have been presented in the field to narrow their analyses to specific case studies, known econometric issues with familiar labels, and living institutions
Aid effectiveness · Developing country · Economic growth · Economics · Framing (construction · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Randomized controlled trial · Randomized experiment · Rebuttal · Sociology · Advanced Causal Inference Techniques · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Law · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare
L'étalon-or des évaluations randomisées
Policy Evaluation in Polarized Polities
Repopulating Development
Randomized Controlled Experiments to End Poverty
Conditional cash transfers in OECD countries
When are experiments corrupt
Reconsidering Women’s Empowerment
All that Glitters is not Gold. The Political Economy of Randomized Evaluations in Development
From Evidence-based to Market-based mHealth
Conditional Cash Transfers
Economics Language and Assumptions
Characterizing Selection Bias Using Experimental Data
Programme Evaluation with Unobserved Heterogeneity and Selective Implementation
Instruments, Randomization, and Learning about Development
The Power and Pitfalls of Experiments in Development Economics
Impact of the Mexican Program for Education, Health, and Nutrition (Progresa) on Rates of Growth and Anemia in Infants and Young Children
Handbook Of Development Economics
Estudios Sociologicos
Randomization and Social Program Evaluation
Pandora's hope
The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Marriage and Divorce
The Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics
Progressing through PROGRESA
Ernst Mach and the Fortunes of Positivism in America
The Mangle in Practice
Attrition in Longitudinal Household Survey Data
Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern
| Citations per year | 0.69 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2024 (12) |
| Highly cited | No |