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This workshop showcases research by the world's top-class academics, and provides a wide range of researchers and practitioners with a chance to learn how recently developed methodological techniques such as randomised trials and natural experiments can be used to address one of the most important questions in development: what is the causal impact on the well-being of the poor of various aid programs and changes in socio-economic environments?
Over the past decade, development economics has witnessed a significant growth in studies that focus on the microeconomics of development. Driven in part by the recognition that many aid interventions have little impact, this literature has sought to better understand the way in which the world’s poorest people respond to incentives.
One of the most important features in the new development economics has been the growth of studies that implement randomised trials or exploit natural experiments. Both methods seek to address the fundamental problem that in analysing policy effectiveness, it is important to know the counterfactual – what would have happened in the absence of the policy intervention?
This conference has been made possible by the generous support of AusAID. It is particularly well-suited to policymakers and experts working on program evaluation, particularly in developing countries.
The conference is presented by the Economics Program, and the ‘Productive Australia in the World Economy’ Theme of the Research School of Social Sciences. There is no charge to attend, but for catering purposes, participants are asked to email their details to cris.carey@anu.edu.au by 29 May 2008.
Organisers:
Andrew Leigh
Xing Meng
Chikako Yamauchi
Download Program in pdf format
8.15-8.30am
Coffee & registration
8.30-8.45am
Bob McMullan, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance
Opening speech
8.45-9.45am
Paul Gertler, UC Berkeley
Empowering Women: How Mexico’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program Raised Prenatal Care Quality and Birth Weight (with Sarah L. Barber)
9.45-10.15am
Morning Tea
10.15-11.15am
Leigh Linden, Columbia University
Conditional Transfers in Education: Design Features, Peer and Sibling Effects - Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Columbia (with Felipe Barrera-Osorio, Marianne Bertrand, and Francisco Perez-Calle)
11.15-12.15pm
Steven Stillman, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, NZ
The Impacts of International Migration on Remaining Household Members: Omnibus Results from a Migration Lottery Program (with John Gibson and David McKenzie)
12.15-1.30pm
Lunch
1.30-2.30pm
Seema Jayachandran, Stanford University
Life Expectancy and Human Capital Investments: Evidence From Maternal Mortality Declines (with Adriana Lleras-Muney)
2.30-3.30pm
Chris Blattman, Center for Global Development, Yale University
Ex-combatants: The impacts of armed conflict on men and women and the determinants of reintegration success
3.30-4.00pm
Afternoon Tea
4.00-5.00pm
Boly Amadou, University of Montreal
Can Corruption be Studied in the Lab? (with Olivier Armantier)
6.30pm
Conference Dinner: The Boathouse by the Lake Restaurant
Grevillea Park, Menindee Drive, Barton
8.15-8.45am
Coffee
8.45-9.45am
Elaine Liu, Princeton University
Time to Change What to Sow: Risk Preferences and Technology Adoption Decisions of Cotton Farmers in China
9.45-10.15am
Morning Tea
10.15-11.15am
Chikako Yamauchi, Australian National University
Heterogeneity in the Returns to Investment in Poor Villages
11.15-12.15pm
Shawn Cole, Harvard Business School
Weather Insurance: Managing Risk Through an Innovative Retail Derivative (with Jeremy Tobacman and Petia Topalova)
12.15-1.30pm
Lunch
1.30-2.30pm
Dean Karlan, Yale University
Put Your Money Where Your Butt Is: A Commitment Savings Account for Smoking Cessation (with Xavier Gine and Jonathan Zinman)
2.30-3.30pm
Manisha Shah, University of Melbourne
Are STI Interventions Doomed to Fail? Evidence from Ecuador ( with Raj Arunachalam)
3.00-3.30pm
Afternoon Tea
3.30-5.00pm
The Economics, Ethics and Politics of Randomised Policy Trials
Roundtable discussion with an AusAID representative, Dean Karlan and Leigh Linden. Chair: Andrew Leigh.
6.00pm
Drinks
