Reading List “The Evaluation Problem”, Emmanuel Skoufias
* denotes required reading
May 2004
June 1st, 2004 (morning session):
TOPICS:
An overview of the Evaluation Problem.
Different Estimators: BA, CSDIF, 2DIF.
Parameters measuring program impact
How Experimental Methods Solve the Evaluation Problem
* Blundell Richard, and Monica Costa Dias (2000) “Evaluation Methods for Non-Experimental Data," Fiscal Studies, Vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 427-468.
Heckman, J. J. 1992. Randomization and social policy evaluation. In Evaluating welfare and training programs, ed. C. Manski and I. Garfinkel. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
*Heckman, J.J. and J. Smith. 1995. Assessing the case for social experiments. Journal of Economic Perspectives 9(2) Spring: 85-110.
*Heckman, J. J, R. La Londe, and J. Smith. 1999. The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs. In Handbook of Labor Economics vol. 3A, ed. O. Ashenfelter and D. Card. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: North Holland.
Moffitt, Robert (1991) “Program Evaluation with Nonexperimental Data” Evaluation Review, Vol. 15, no. 3 (June), pp. 291-314.
Newman J., L. Rawlings, and P. Gertler 1994. Using Randomized Control Designs in Evaluating Social Sector Programs in Developing Countries. The World Bank Research Observer, 9 (2): 181-201.
* Ravallion, Martin (2001) “The Mystery of the Vanishing Benefits: An Introduction to Impact Evaluation,” The World Bank Economic Review, Vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 115-140.
Baker, Judy (2000) Evaluating the Impact of Development Projects on Poverty: A Handbook for Practitioners The World Bank, Washington D.C.
Valadez, J., and M. Bamberger. 1994. Monitoring and evaluating social programs in developing countries: A handbook for policymakers, managers, and researchers. EDI Development Studies. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.
Also visit the web site: http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/impact/index.htm
Schultz, T. Paul. 2004. “School Subsidies for the Poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa Poverty Program.” Journal of Development Economics (June) .
Skoufias, Emmanuel (2003) “PROGRESA and its Impacts on the Welfare of Rural Households in Mexico,” IFPRI Research Report (forthcoming)
Skoufias, Emmanuel, Benjamin Davis, and Sergio de la Vega. 2001. “Targeting the poor in Mexico: Evaluation of the selection of beneficiary households into PROGRESA” World Development 29 (October): 1769-84.
* Skoufias, Emmanuel and Susan W. Parker (2001) “Conditional Cash Transfers and their Impact on Child Work and Schooling: Evidence from the PROGRESA program in Mexico” Economia, Vol.2, No. 1, Fall , pp. 45-96.
June 2nd, 2004
Non-Experimental Methods: (morning session):
*Blundell Richard, and Monica Costa Dias (2000) "Evaluation Methods for Non-Experimental Data," Fiscal Studies, Vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 427-468.
*Heckman, J. J, R. La Londe, and J. Smith. 1999. The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs. In Handbook of Labor Economics vol. 3A, ed. O. Ashenfelter and D. Card. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: North Holland.
Instrumental variables: (morning session):
*Heckman J.J. (1997) “Instrumental variables: a Study of the Implicit Assumptions Underlying one widely used estimator for program evaluations" Journal of Human Resources, vol. XXXII, no. 3, pp. 441-462
*Jalan Jyotsna, and Martin Ravallion (2003) “Estimating the Benefit Incidence of an Antipoverty Program by Propensity Score Matching,” Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, (January), Vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 19-30
Jalan Jyotsna, and Martin Ravallion (2003) “Does piped water reduce diarrhea fro children in rural India?,” Journal of Econometrics, (January), Vol. 112, pp. 153-173.
Regression Discontinuity Design: (afternoon session):
Buddelmeyer, Hielke and Emmanuel Skoufias “An Evaluation of the Performance of Regression Discontinuity Design on PROGRESA,” IZA Discussion Paper No. 827, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn, Germany, July 2003.
Hahn, Jinyong, Petra Todd and Wilbert Van der Klaauw (2001) ''Identification and Estimation of Treatment Effects with a Regression-Discontinuity Design'' Econometrica 69(1), 201-209