QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS WORKSHOP
Abstract: Findings from recent field experiments and natural experiments on strategies to promote policy responsiveness to the poor are mixed. Reading more closely, this literature suggests that the success of such strategies depends on whether increased transparency about incumbent performance is combined with venues for poor citizens to coordinate to overcome clientelism and related mechanisms for incumbent control. We develop these ideas through a “structural synthesis” of this current literature that analyzes state-of-the-art evidence and synthesizes the insights with a formal model of policy bias and accountability. (Joint with Antonella Bandiera and Dongil Lee)
Cyrus Samii is Associate Professor in the Wilf Family Department of Politics of New York University and Executive Director of the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network. He writes and teaches on quantitative social science methodology, with an emphasis on causal inference. He is a prominent expert on the design of quantitative field research and social science randomized controlled trials. His applied research studies governance in contexts where formal institutions are weak, the political economy of development, and social, economic, and psychological causes of violent conflict. He has designed and carried out field studies in sites across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This research has been conducted in collaboration with partners from various international agencies, including the World Bank, United Nations, US Agency for International Development, UK Department for International Development, and Danish International Aid Agency, as well as governments, non-governmental, and civil society organizations in the respective countries. His work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals in political science, economics, and statistics.
This workshop is open to the Yale community only and will be held in a hybrid format. Current Yale faculty, students, and staff are encouraged to attend in person. Participants will also be able to attend remotely on Zoom. To receive announcements and invitations to attend either in person or remotely, please subscribe at https://csap.yale.edu/quantitative-research-methods-workshop.
The series is sponsored by the ISPS Center for the Study of American Politics and The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale with support from the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Fund. It is being held jointly with the Leitner Political Economy Seminar.