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Integrating Value for Money and Impact Evaluations : Issues, Institutions, and Opportunities

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  • Brown,Elizabeth Denison
  • Tanner,Jeffery

Abstract

This mixed methods study investigates why fewer than one in five impact evaluations integrates a value-for-money analysis of the development intervention being evaluated. This study distills four main insights from combined analysis of 33 semi-structured and unstructured interviews, surveys of 497 policy makers and 16 journal editors, and portfolio analyses of World Bank and worldwide impact evaluations. The study finds that low levels of training in cost data collection and analysis methods, together with a lack of standardization of the value-for-money assumptions (e.g., time horizons, discount rates, and economic or financial cost accounting) limit value-for-money integration into impact evaluations. Further eroding researchers'incentives, demand for cost evidence from the journals that publish impact evaluations is mixed. Ill-defined standards of rigor undermine editors'capacity to evaluate the quality of value-for-money analysis when it is integrated with impact evaluation evidence. Institutional funders of impact evaluations do not consistently demand that cost analysis be integrated into their funded evaluations. This study finds no evidence in support of the myth that policymakers do not demand cost evidence. Rather, it finds that researchers have few ways of knowing what kind of analysis policymakers need and when they need it. Improving the stock of impact evaluators who are cross trained in value-for-money methods, establishing standards in what constitutes rigor in costing, resolving methodological issues, and improving linkages between policymakers and researchers would lead to greater integration of value-for-money methods in impact evaluations.

Suggested Citation

  • Brown,Elizabeth Denison & Tanner,Jeffery, 2019. "Integrating Value for Money and Impact Evaluations : Issues, Institutions, and Opportunities," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9041, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9041
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    Cited by:

    1. Kaffenberger, Michelle & Pritchett, Lant, 2021. "Effective investment in women's futures: Schooling with learning," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Garbero, Alessandra & Sakos, Grayson & Cerulli, Giovanni, 2023. "Towards data-driven project design: Providing optimal treatment rules for development projects," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Monica Jain & Shannon Shisler & Charlotte Lane & Avantika Bagai & Elizabeth Brown & Mark Engelbert & Yoav Vardy & John Eyers & Daniela Anda Leon & Shradha S. Parsekar, 2022. "Use of community engagement interventions to improve child immunisation in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), September.
    4. Siwach, Garima & Paul, Sohini & de Hoop, Thomas, 2022. "Economies of scale of large-scale international development interventions: Evidence from self-help groups in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).

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