Jörg Peters

Jörg Peters
Designation: RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research and University of Passau
Jörg Peters is a specialist in energy and environmental policies in developing countries and the evaluation of development interventions.

Blogs by author

External validity: policy demand is there but research needs to boost supply

A randomised controlled trial (RCT) in a Northern district of Uganda finds that the young adults who receive cash transfers use it to buy more food for their families, football shirts, and airtime for their mobile phones, compared to those in control areas. Would the pattern be the same if young adults in central Uganda are given cash transfers? Would the findings replicate if the cash transfers were given to young women in Senegal? This stylised example points to the crucial question of generalisability of program impacts to other contexts – commonly referred to as external validity.