Handbook on Impact Evaluation

Public programs are designed to reach certain goals and benefi ciaries. Methods to
understand whether such programs actually work, as well as the level and nature of
impacts on intended benefi ciaries, are main themes of this book. Has the Grameen
Bank, for example, succeeded in lowering consumption poverty among the rural poor
in Bangladesh? Can conditional cash-transfer programs in Mexico and other Latin
American countries improve health and schooling outcomes for poor women and children?
Does a new road actually raise welfare in a remote area in Tanzania, or is it a
“highway to nowhere”? Do community-based programs like the Thailand Village Fund
project create long-lasting improvements in employment and income for the poor?