The Backbone of Impact Evaluation Methods

Rather than emphasizing technical details, the book focuses on the fundamental logic behind the main evaluation methods: how each method constructs the counterfactual, which assumptions make that counterfactual credible, and how these assumptions can be assessed in practice. It covers randomized experiments, matching, difference-in-differences, event studies, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, synthetic control, forecast-based methods, heterogeneous and continuous treatments, spillovers, and related topics. The book is designed for students, applied researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners, with minimal formalism, extensive graphical explanations, simulations, and reproducible R code.