Critically Reading Impact Evaluations

Critically Reading Impact Evaluations
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Study design and identification strategy.
4) In the research paper, the researcher examines the effect of introducing sweet potatoes to the degree of revolts associated with weather shocks, majorly drought. In this case, the variable sweet potatoes become X, and the level of revolt becomes Y. to derive the effect of X to Y, the researchers first analyze the extent of revolt caused by drought and floods. On these, they find that drought cause revolts three times higher than floods. The justification for this is that droughts usually affect many people and never kill them. It only gives the people a chance to revolt, unlike floods which affect few people and possibly kill them, leaving no opportunity for a revolt. With the knowledge droughts cause revolts because it affects the output of rice and wheat, they then introduce a drought-resistant sweet potato. The crop does well with or without rains. The crop brought food security and, as a return, reduced the revolts associated with drought. When they replace the sweet potato with maize, the results don’t significantly change the revolts related to drought. This indicates the resistance of sweet potato places it in a better position to reduce drought revolts.
5) The treatment group is sweet potatoes in a drought period, where it is used to examine whether it can change the number of revolts caused by drought. The examination proves positive, with sweet potatoes reducing more than twice the effect of draught revolts and those caused by floods. Maize, when used as a control, the impact of weather shocks remains the same. This means maize, though it was introduced earlier than sweet potatoes, doesn't have a mitigation effect. When combined with sweet potatoes, the mitigation effect of weather shocks is realized.
6) The units randomized are the years and seasons of weather shock. Since drought wasn’t continuous, the researcher randomized different times in the past when drought was said to have occurred. The historical data on these weather patterns helped him develop and argue his case out. The randomizing didn’t raise any concerns. The random data collected worked out because on carrying out regression analysis, the researcher found a significant link between whether shocks and revolts.
Findings, intern...