All that glitters is not gold: the political economy of randomized evaluations in development

Florent Bédécarrats, Isabelle Guérin and François Roubaud

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Abstract: Randomized control trials (RCTs) have a narrow scope, restricted to basic intervention schemes. Experimental designs also display specific biases and political uses when implemented in the real world. Despite these limitations, the method has been advertised as the gold standard to evaluate development policies. This article adopts a political economy approach to explore this paradox. It argues that the success of RCTs is driven mainly by a new scientific business model based on a mix of simplicity and mathematical rigour, media and donor appeal, and academic and financial returns. This in turn meets current interests and preferences in the academic world and the donor community.

Keywords: Randomized control trials; methodology; epistemology; Impact evaluation; Randomised control trials; Experimental method; Political economy; Development JEL codes: A11; B41; C18; C93; O10; D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://ird.hal.science/ird-02112849v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published in Development and Change, 2019, 50 (3), pp.735-762. ⟨10.1111/dech.12378⟩

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Related works:
Journal Article: All that Glitters is not Gold. The Political Economy of Randomized Evaluations in Development (2019)
Working Paper: All That Glitters Is Not Gold: The Political Economy of Randomised Evaluations in Development (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:ird-02112849

DOI: 10.1111/dech.12378

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