IFPRI and causal impact evaluation: Evidence for real-life policies

A new report, External Assessment of Outcomes from IFPRI's Causal Impact Evaluation Research 2012-2022, authored by independent consultant Sarah Lowder, details the outcomes of IFPRI's wide portfolio of causal impact evaluations on policies, investments, and interventions. It highlights the ways in which high-quality research design can serve as the backbone for addressing food insecurity, malnutrition, and other development challenges worldwide.

In a world marked by increasingly scarce resources for development, it is important to know whether pro-poor investments are cost-effective or not. Causal impact evaluation (CIE) methodologies answer this question by measuring the benefits attributable to specific projects, investments, or programs relative to a (counterfactual) world in which the intervention did not occur. CIE methods include randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as well as quasi-experimental methods such as regression discontinuity designs and matching methods.