Evaluation of development policy: Treatment versus program effects

There is a growing interest, notably in development economics, in extending project evaluation methods to the evaluation of multiple interventions (“programs”). In program evaluations one is interested in the aggregate impact of a program rather than the effect on individual beneficiaries. In many situations randomized controlled trials cannot identify this impact. We propose a measure of program impact, the total program effect (TPE), which is a generalization of the treatment effect on the treated (ATET). We show how the TPE can be estimated

Solving the discrete-time stochastic ramsey model

This note describes methods for solving deterministic and stochastic versions of the discrete-time Ramsey model of economic growth. We derive an iterative procedure for solving the Euler equation and apply it to an example adapted from Pan (2007)

Investment under risk with discrete and continuous assets

This paper considers a general class of stochastic dynamic choice models with discrete and continuous decision variables. This class contains a variety of models that are useful for modeling intertemporal household decisions under risk. Our examples are drawn from the field of development economics. We formalize this class as a dynamic programming problem, then propose a solution method that relies on value function iteration. Finally, in an example we show how our algorithm can be applied to solve and estimate a dynamic model with discrete and continuous controls

Effectiveness of Large Scale Water and Sanitation Interventions: the One Million Initiative in Mozambique

The One Million Initiative aims for 70% of the population using safe drinking water and 50% using improved sanitation in 18 districts in three provinces of central Mozambique. This paper evaluates health effects of the initiative using a panel survey, analyzing the contributions of latrine ownership, hand washing, and use of improved water sources to health. It is unique in providing rigorous evaluation of such a large scale WASH program. The authors find a large impact of CLTS on adults and older children, and a similar impact in improved water sources on health of young children