What is the standard of care in experimental development economics?

Marcos Picchio

Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 2024, vol. 23, issue 2, 205-226

Abstract: A central feature of experimental development economics is the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effectiveness of prospective socioeconomic interventions. The use of RCTs in development economics raises a host of ethical issues which are just beginning to be explored. In this article, I address one ethical issue in particular: the routine use of the status quo as a control when designing and conducting a development RCT. Drawing on the literature on the principle of standard care in medical research ethics, as well as considerations of distributive justice in non-ideal circumstances, I argue that the practice of using the status quo as a control is ethically justifiable. However, I add an important qualification based on the natural duty of rescue to address the concern that my account is overly permissive.

Keywords: development economics; randomized controlled trials; field experiments; standard of care; distributive justice; non-ideal theory; research ethics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:pophec:v:23:y:2024:i:2:p:205-226

DOI: 10.1177/1470594X231181655

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