It pays to be ignorant: A simple political economy of rigorous program evaluation

Lant H. Pritchett

178 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Policy Reform

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Evaluation and Performance Assessment Public Policy and Administration Research Advanced Causal Inference Techniques

Abstract

This paper attempts to explain the scarcity of rigorous evaluations of public policy. I build a positive model to explain the "stylized fact" that there is under investment in the creation of reliable empirical knowledge about the impacts of public sector actions. The model shows how "advocates" of particular issues or solutions - the public action equivalent of entrepreneurs - have incentives to under invest in knowledge creation because having credible estimates of the impact of their preferred program may undermine their ability to mobilize political (budgetary) support.

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2019American Economic Review 1987Health insurance and the demand for medical care: evidence from a randomized experiment.1993Significant Benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 27 2000Weak Links in the Chain: A Diagnosis of Health Policy in Poor Countries

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