About Aid Watch
The Aid Watch blog is a project of New York University's Development Research Institute (DRI). This blog is principally written by William Easterly, author of "The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics" and "The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good," and Professor of Economics at NYU. It is co-written by Laura Freschi and by occasional guest bloggers. Our work is based on the idea that more aid will reach the poor the more people are watching aid.
"Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking." - H.L. Mencken
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Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Andrew on Beautiful fractals and ugly inequality: Can you please share the data sources?
- Sina on Beautiful fractals and ugly inequality: this is really good
- Ben Ramalingam on Welcome to economics, all you students (and aid workers): “The number of aid ideas that violate elementary principles...
- Dan Kyba on Welcome to economics, all you students (and aid workers): Market economies and the economics that underpins it has also been,...
- Raphael on Help the World’s Poor: Buy Some New Clothes: Benjamin, I am curious to know where you draw the ethical line. People...
- David Dolejsi on Welcome to economics, all you students (and aid workers): When I was a freshman at my university, they gave us Economics...
Archives
Bill Easterly tweets
- Saying it better! RT@patrin Forget optimal choices, econ is why Disney CEO salary is 140,000x of Ghanaian rock-breakers http://bit.ly/aRxMBt about 10 hours ago from web
- Greetings, Aid workers, welcome to your 1st day of classes on Principles of Economics http://bit.ly/aRxMBt about 15 hours ago from bitly
- World Bank denies expert in charge of development is fictional, he's in secure location in Main Complex, 3rd basement http://bit.ly/bvdx4t 07:57:32 PM September 07, 2010 from bitly
- Hello all, back on Twitter after a week off. Anything happen while I was gone? 03:54:25 PM September 07, 2010 from web
Aid Watch tweets
- IAD on A-i-d http://bit.ly/9Yqk1H. Claudia Williamson discusses Elinor Ostrom's work on development. 12:29:51 PM September 03, 2010 from web
- Be Careful What you Export: http://bit.ly/cE3e1v 11:11:33 AM September 02, 2010 from web
- TransparencyBrawl 2010 continues: http://bit.ly/aG1ytu 08:18:35 PM September 01, 2010 from web
- Hayek vs. the Intellectuals, in technicolor! http://bit.ly/cSnS8m 11:25:39 AM September 01, 2010 from web
Category Archives: Metrics and evaluation
Is Impact Measurement a Dead End?
This post was written by Alanna Shaikh. Alanna is a global health professional who blogs at UN Dispatch and Blood and Milk.
We’ve spent the last few years watching the best donors and NGOs get more and more committed to the idea of measurable impacts. At first, the trend seemed unimpeachable. International donors have spent far too much money with far too few results. Focusing more on impact seemed like the way out of that trap.…
Also posted in International organizational behavior
Tagged Alanna Shaikh, impact evaluation, Metrics and evaluation, USAID
31 Comments
The World Bank’s “horizontal” approach to health falls horizontal?
The history of foreign aid for global health has seen a cycling back and forth between two alternative approaches. The “vertical” approach focuses on fighting one disease at a time, and in Africa has been very effective in targeting smallpox, Guinea worm, measles, and river blindness, to name a few examples. After large initial successes though, diminishing returns to vertical programs set in. The “horizontal” approach instead invests sector-wide to make health systems work to…
If an evaluation is released on the internet and no one comments, does it make a sound?
The release of the Millennium Villages Project mid-point evaluation has so far been met with no discernable public response.
Strange, since the release is billed as the “first major scientific report on progress after three years of MVP activity.” Doubly strange, since the MVP is an ambitious project that reaches into nearly all areas of its 500,000 recipients’ lives, and proposes, in scaled-up version, to completely change the architecture and delivery of aid to…
Also posted in Aid policies and approaches, Grand plans/ aid targets
Tagged millennium villages
12 Comments
The Counter-Revolution of Development Economics: Hayek vs. Duflo
This post is by Adam Martin, a post-doctoral fellow at DRI.
F.A. Hayek, well known as a critic of central planning, also criticized what he called “scientism,” a blind commitment to the methods of the physical sciences beyond their realm of applicability. In The Counter-Revolution of Science, Hayek opposed to “scientism” the genuine spirit of scientific inquiry.
Esther Duflo’s emphasis on small-scale experimentation has affinity with Hayek’s critique of grand schemes of central planning. As…
Also posted in Aid policies and approaches
Tagged Adam Martin, Esther Duflo, Experiments, F.A. Hayek, RCTs
24 Comments
Esther-mania!
Esther Duflo is having a good month, first the John Bates Clark medal for best economist under 40, and now a new profile in the New Yorker. It’s great to see development economists appearing in the New Yorker (link to abstract, full article alas requires subscription).
Esther is very deserving of this recognition. Anyone who gets hundreds of other academics and researchers approaching things in a new way (“randomized controlled trials” to measure…
Esther Duflo’s 2010 TED talk…
…on poverty, aid, and randomized trials is a can’t miss. See it here. (HT everybody)
Michael Clemens won’t let up on the Millennium Villages + bonus links
It’s nice to see scholars bringing attention to the critical need for evaluation and informed public dialogue (not just “success stories” or short-term impact evaluation) for the Millennium Villages Project, which we have also covered on this blog. Michael Clemens of the Center for Global Development is currently carrying on a very revealing dialogue with Millennium Villages.
In Michael’s first blog post which we blogged, he makes three central points:
- The
…
Also posted in Aid policies and approaches, Badvocacy and celebs
Tagged evaluation, Michael Clemens, millennium villages, RCTs
4 Comments
Beware the fury of a patient man: Michael Clemens on Millennium Villages
Michael Clemens at the Center for Global Development is a very calm, judicious, sensible guy. But even he has finally lost patience with the lack of any serious evaluation of the Millennium Villages:
Why a Careful Evaluation of the Millennium Villages is Not Optional
UPDATE (3/20, 8:16am) Chris Blattman adds his take on this.
Tagged evaluation, millennium villages
5 Comments
Undercover Economist goes public for randomized controlled trials
Tim Harford column in today’s FT (VERY strong endorsement of RCTs)