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Small development questions are important, but they require big answers

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  • Stevano, Sara

Abstract

The 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics awarded to the pioneers of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) is a welcome acknowledgement of the fundamental challenge of poverty, but it should also be an opportunity to engage with the plurality of voices in development. A wealth of critiques of RCTs have highlighted how they neglect the structural conditions of poverty and are exposed to ethical and methodological flaws. Building on these critiques and primary research in Mozambique and Ghana, I engage with the debate on ‘small versus big questions’ – the RCT approach breaks big development questions into small ones in ways that jeopardise, according to critics, our understanding of development processes. I argue that small questions are also important, but, unlike what RCTs offer, they require big answers. Using the case of food, I show that we need approaches that can bridge micro-macro divides and highlight the structural underpinnings of daily practices.

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  • Stevano, Sara, 2020. "Small development questions are important, but they require big answers," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:127:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x19304759
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104826
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kabeer, Naila, 2020. "Women’s empowerment and economic development: a feminist critique of story telling practices in ‘Randomista' economics," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103880, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Kabeer, Naila, 2020. "Women's Empowerment and Economic Development: A Feminist Critique of Storytelling Practices in "Randomista" Economics: a feminist critique of storytelling practices in “randomista” economics," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104600, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Karimli, Leyla & Lecoutere, Els & Wells, Christine R. & Ismayilova, Leyla, 2021. "More assets, more decision-making power? Mediation model in a cluster-randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of the graduation program on women's empowerment in Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Vikram Tyagi & Sophie Webber, 2021. "A rusting gold standard: Failures in an Indonesian RCT, and the implications for poverty reduction," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(5), pages 992-1011, August.

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