Centre of Excellence in Development, Impact and Learning (CEDIL)
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Author Biography
Edoardo Masset is Deputy Director of the Centre of Excellence in Development, Impact and Learning (CEDIL), London.
Institute of Development Studies
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Author Biography
Giulia Mascagni is a Research Fellow at IDS and Research Director at the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), Brighton. Her research interests focus on tax administration and tax policy in low‑income countries, particularly in African countries. She is also Research Associate at the Institute of Fiscal Studies, London.
University of Illinois
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Author Biography
Arnab Acharya is an economist with a PhD in Microeconomic Theory and Development Economics from the University of Illinois.
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
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Author Biography
Eva-Maria Egger is an applied economist in the Research and
Impact Assessment division of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
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Author Biography
Amrita Saha is an IDS post-doctoral researcher and London School of Economics (LSE) Visiting Fellow with over eight years’ experience working on the political economy of development.
Volume 49
Number 4
Published: November 13, 2018
Most development interventions are complex, comprising several interacting activities affecting multiple outcomes. Impact evaluations of such interventions are widespread, but the literature offers little guidance on how to assess the cost-effectiveness of such integrated projects. We review the literature that conducts cost-effectiveness analyses of multiple interventions alongside impact evaluations in low- and middle-income countries. Only seven studies are identified in areas as diverse as de-worming, school support, conditional cash transfers, early childhood development, and social funds. We find that none of the applied approaches can be effectively employed in all instances, though each of them can be applied in some special cases. Furthermore, none of the studies reviewed addresses output synergies. Given the rising numbers of impact assessments in development practice and their importance for policy, research needs to develop sound methods to assess the cost-effectiveness of integrated interventions.
Keywords:
- Evaluation
- Millennium Villages
- Rural