Training the Next Generation of the “Experimental Movement”
This post was authored by Lauren Russell (CEGA Director of Operations) with contributions from Maya Ranganath (Senior Program Manager, CEGA).
At the end of the Nobel lectures in economics last week, the laureates announced their plans to donate their prize money to the Weiss Family Fund for Development Economics Research, supplementing a generous $50M gift from the Weiss Family’s private foundation, Child Relief International (CRI). This is particularly exciting as the Weiss Fund — which has historically supported graduate students and junior faculty at a limited number of U.S.-based institutions — will now be open to a wide network of researchers at leading universities around the world, including low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We applaud this move which strongly aligns with CEGA’s own commitment to research capacity building.
Bolstering “Local” Talent
Bolstering the next generation of researchers — including faculty and graduate students from LMICs — is core to CEGA’s mission. We believe that the credibility and impact of evidence for decision-making is significantly strengthened by the inclusion of local scholars, who are best placed — and most motivated — to identify and address development challenges in their own countries. Without their participation, even the most rigorous research can lose relevance and fail to translate into policy action, constraining important development goals. Our Global Networks programs — which have operated in East Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and most recently, West Africa — invest in the skills and leadership of LMIC scholars to generate evidence, contribute to scholarly debates, and facilitate the use of evidence by policy-makers in their home countries.
At CEGA, we have seen firsthand the power of including LMIC scholars and institutions in knowledge production and subsequent policy conversations. Since 2010, we have hosted 40 LMIC scholars for semester long fellowships and provided nearly $1.5 million in grant funding to 27 studies co-led by LMIC researchers. While the effects of capacity-building activities are not linear and often require patience to come to fruition, we are now beginning to see measurable returns to our initial training investments, including joint work published in top journals (5 to date and counting) and important policy decisions informed by LMIC-led research.
For example, together with CEGA affiliate Karthik Muralidharan, EASST Fellow Constantine Manda leveraged partnerships with Tanzania’s Commission for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education to test the effects of capitation grants and teacher incentives on student performance. Today, all public primary and secondary schools in Tanzania administer capitation grants informed by the study, which began in 2013 and was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics this year.
We’ve also seen how training one researcher has ripple effects for others back home. This new job market paper finds that returned trainees from capacity building programs increase the productivity of academics in their home institution by providing a “bridge” to knowledge and resources. CEGA has seen this firsthand: for example, EASST Fellow Damazo Kadengye completed his fellowship in 2018, and was funded to hold a short impact evaluation workshop for 21 trainees upon his return to Uganda. Several trainees were chosen for closer mentorship, with one pairing already resulting in a co-authored publication between trainee Jonathan Izudi, Kadengye, and CEGA affiliate Sandra McCoy.
The above examples are just two of many that demonstrate how investments in ‘local’ knowledge, talent and relationships can generate positive spillover effects and catalyze evidence-based social change.
Investing in Graduate Student Research
In line with our commitment to capacity building, CEGA invests in graduate student research by offering competitive grants for travel and data collection. While modest, graduate student grants enable junior researchers to take a leadership role in designing and implementing field studies that advance science and the welfare of people in LMICs. They also create early-career incentives for researchers to carefully consider and plan for the impact of their findings on policy and decision-making. A predictable stream of support for graduate research enables students to incubate new projects, pursue time-sensitive opportunities, and explore new partnerships that could yield high returns over time.
Graduate student research grants lead to tangible benefits for students. They help young scholars build their professional networks and receive constructive feedback from other academics. The feedback received leads to stronger doctoral dissertations and improved job market placement. In addition, visibility and endorsement provided by CEGA research grants have, anecdotally, helped some students gain access to data and partnerships that they might not otherwise have obtained.
Small investments in piloting and rigorously testing promising ideas can generate significant returns for students and deliver high returns for society. Over the last decade, CEGA has provided $1.6M to nearly 100 student projects, many of which have generated important findings that advance the field of development economics. For example, with support from CEGA, Guantam Rao (now at Harvard University) conducted a natural experiment in India testing the effects of classroom integration on pro-social behavior; Tarek Ghani (now at Washington University) conducted a randomized trial in Afghanistan evaluating the impact of mobile financial transfers on firm and bureaucratic performance; Anne Karing (now at Princeton University) organized a randomized evaluation in Sierra Leone testing the effects of social signaling on childhood immunization; and dozens of other students carried out compelling, high-quality research that tested important questions and propelled their careers.
Advancing the Broader Experimental Movement
At CEGA, we have seen that empowering the next generation of researchers — whether LMIC scholars or graduate students in the U.S. — can make waves (not ripples!) for evidence-informed policymaking. We are energized by the Weiss family’s generosity and thrilled that the Weiss Family Fund for Development Economics Research will soon be open to researchers and institutions worldwide. As Michael Kremer explained in his lecture, this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics is dedicated to the broader “experimental movement,” which seeks to rigorously test new solutions that benefit the greater good.
While the Nobel Prize is a milestone to be proud of, the experimental movement “still has room to grow,” notes Kremer. To keep up momentum, we must support the next generation of researchers to tackle new questions, include new perspectives, and apply new methodologies to both advance social science research and benefit society.
