Methodology update: Randomised controlled trials, structural models and the study of politics

Leonard Wantchekon, R. Jenny Guardado

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper explores how the combined use of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) and Structural Models can improve the study of politics. We posit that randomized controlled trials can benefit from the insights provided by structural models, particularly for the type of questions posed in Political Science. Although structural models have been utilized scarcely in politics, the close relationship between theory and empirics required by structural models would help solving many of the current pitfalls of RCTs in political science. For instance, this approach can alleviate concerns of external validity often associated with experimental evidence. We finally present a real political science example to illustrate the implementation of this approach.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberejr029
Pages (from-to)653-672
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of African Economies
Volume20
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2011
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Development
  • Economics and Econometrics

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