What Can Experiments Tell Us About How to Improve Government Performance?

Gisselquist, Rachel M.; Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel

Abstract

In recent years, experimental methods have been both highly celebrated, and roundly criticized, as a means of addressing core questions in the social sciences. They have received particular attention in the analysis of development interventions. This paper focuses on two key questions: (1) what have been the main contributions of RCTs to the study of government performance? and (2) what could be the contributions, and relatedly the limits? It draws inter alia on a new systematic review of experimental and quasi-experimental studies on governance to consider both the contributions and limits of RCTs in the extant literature. A final section introduces the studies included in this symposium in light of this discussion. Collectively, the studies push beyond polarized debates over experimental methods towards a new middle ground, considering both how experimental work can better address identified weaknesses and how experimental and non-experimental techniques can be combined most fruitfully.

Citation

Gisselquist, R. M., & Niño-Zarazúa, M. (2015). What Can Experiments Tell Us About How to Improve Government Performance?. Journal of Globalization and Development, 6(1), 1-45. https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2014-0011

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 1, 2014
• Publication Date: May 16, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 26, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 26, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Globalization and Development
• Electronic ISSN: 1948-1837
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-45
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2014-0011
• Keywords: development; governance; randomized controlled trials
• Publisher URL: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jgd-2014-0011/html
• Related Public URLs: https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/what-can-experiments-tell-us-about-how-improve-governance-0