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  • March 2020
  • Article
  • World Development

A Revolution in Economics? It's Just Getting Started...

By: Shawn A. Cole, William Pariente and Anja Sautmann
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

We have each experienced thrills and pain while supporting the mission of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which facilitated many of the experiments described in the 2019 Nobel Prize citation. J-PAL in many ways seeks to fulfill what Angrist and Pischke called the “Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics.” Even though (or perhaps because) we have conducted many RCTs, we share many of the concerns that critics have highlighted: high cost, long time lags, and limits to generalizability. Yet, we are quite optimistic that the impact and reach of experimental work in economics and policy will only grow. We see two complementary developments that will make RCTs cheaper, faster, larger, and ultimately substantially more insightful. First, a new research literature seeks to improve the design of experiments, and what we can learn from them, through improved methodologies, meta-analyses, and improved understanding of heterogeneity. Second, the rise of administrative data rapidly opens new frontiers of investigation, in particular the possibility of “closed-loop” data environments, in which interventions can be delivered and evaluated digitally, often on very large samples, and often iteratively.

Keywords

Randomized Control Trials; Economics; Research; Innovation and Invention

Citation

Cole, Shawn A., William Pariente, and Anja Sautmann. "A Revolution in Economics? It's Just Getting Started..." Art. 104849. World Development 127 (March 2020).
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About The Author

Shawn A. Cole

Finance
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • September 2025
    • Journal of Development Economics

    Using Satellites and Phones to Evaluate and Promote Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Smallholder Farms in India

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More from the Authors
  • Using Satellites and Phones to Evaluate and Promote Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Smallholder Farms in India By: Shawn Cole, Tomoko Harigaya, Grady Killeen and Aparna Krishna
  • Getting to Net Zero: The Role of the Financial Sector By: Shawn Cole, Jonah Zahnd, Karina Chung and Jack Cenovic
  • Using Satellites and Phones to Evaluate and Promote Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Smallholder Farms in India By: Shawn Cole, Grady Killeen, Tomoko Harigaya and Aparna Krishna
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