In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share the story of the image we chose for this blog – the Studley Tool Chest. Designed by piano maker Henry O. Studley (1838-1925), this toolbox is about 40 inches by 20 inches when closed, and holds approximately 300 tools. Apparently, it is so heavy that it…Continue Reading The Studley Tool Chest
What’s in a counterfactual?
written by Salimah Samji I am amazed by people’s obsession with the counterfactual, and how evidence cannot exist without it. Why are people so enamored by the idea of ‘the solution’ even though we have learned time and time again that there is no one size fits all? Is the existence of a counterfactual a sufficient condition?…Continue Reading What’s in a counterfactual?
PDIA in Cameroon
written by Salimah Samji In a recent paper entitled, Behavioral Economics and Public Sector Reform: An Accidental Experiment and Lessons from Cameroon, Gael Raballand and Anand Rajaram compare two World Bank projects in Cameroon: a $15 million, 5 year, Transparency and Accountability Capacity Development Project (TACD), and a $300,000, low-profile technical assistance project to improve…Continue Reading PDIA in Cameroon