COURSE NUMBER: MBA296.1

COURSE TITLE: Applied Impact Evaluation

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3

INSTRUCTOR: Paul Gertler

E-MAIL ADDRESS: gertler@haas.berkeley.edu

PREREQUISITE(S): Core

CLASS FORMAT: Weekly lecture modules with in-class exercises and discussions. Case studies will be discussed with a different topical focus each. Online content for learning data analytic methods and periodic homework will be administered.

REQUIRED READINGS: Textbook that can be downloaded from web plus readings that can be downloaded from journals and web

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Midterm, final group project, 3 short homework assignments and participation

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Are you interested in understanding what works and what doesn't in and business and public policy? Do you wish you had the tools to effectively evaluate a business strategy, new technology or public policy program? Do you want to start a social enterprise that changes lives? How will you know if it does and how do you prove to funders that it will work?
The answer is simple: IMPACT EVALUATION.
Impact Evaluation is a rapidly expanding new industry at the cross section of business, public policy, applied economics, and project management. It's purpose is to harness modern tools and technologies to evaluate the causal impact of public policy programs, business initiatives, healthcare interventions, and more. Impact Evaluation is being used by investors and donors to choose initiatives to support, by social impact funds to screen and monitor their investments, by governments to decide how to allocate scarce resources, by development practitioners to evaluate their own work, and by businesses to measure the effect of their products and services. If you plan to work in public policy, development, or at the intersection of society and private industry, you must understand impact evaluation

Course Description: This course will review methods for the design and analysis of impact evaluations relevant to business and policy professionals, especially those working in low and middle-income countries. The class will emphasize the challenges involved in identifying the causal relationship between a program or project and its outcomes while providing students with experience in drafting a for an impact evaluation. The course will provide skills useful in obtaining a future job in the field.

By the end of the course, students will acquire the following capacities:

1. State a set of testable hypotheses for an Impact Evaluation

2. Specify appropriate indicators to measure the principal outcomes of interest

3. Understand basic Impact Evaluation design, construction of a valid counterfactual for causal inference in both randomized and observational design settings.

4. Learn techniques (software) to be able to analyze data from an Impact Evaluation.

5. Develop the ability to question the methods and validity of quantitative assessments

6. Develop a basic understanding of the elements needed to prepare a proposal for and execute an impact evaluation.