Sectoral Clusters

Research Methods Cluster

Empirical research requires good data to complement statistical rigor in providing answers to global poverty questions. Poor data quality can lead to biases in causal inference, lower the probability of detecting the true effect of a program, and limit the generalizability of findings to other contexts. Without good quality data, policy decisions based on such evidence may be misguided, yet economists have little methodological research to inform the data generating process.

Evidence to Policy

“For 20 years I thought my job was as a basic scientist. Publish papers and throw them over the wall for someone else to apply. I now realize that there's no one on the other side of the wall. Just a huge pile of papers that we've all thrown over.”
Duncan Watts in a speech at IC2S2 2019