Random Trials for Service Provision
As always, some very useful and timely links from Andrew Leigh. I would be interested in pursuing randomised trials in our Education Sector.
In 2003, the UK government started a major randomised evaluation of the Employment Retention and Advancement project (ERA), to test the effectiveness of interventions to improve job retention and advancement prospects for low wage workers (background here). Like the US and Canada, British policymakers decided that randomised evaluation needed to be a key part of understanding what active labour market programs work best. They are now reaping the rewards of their foresight, as the results couldn’t be arriving at a more useful time. Most of it is still under wraps, but a report on costs is now out.
