This chapter provides a brief survey of the program evaluation methods, their objectives, strengths, and weaknesses. The chapter first presents methods like cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, the social marginal cost of funds analysis, and data envelopment analysis that are...

This chapter summarizes the economic principles that would help evaluate individual investment projects, general expenditure programs, government policies, and the regulation of economic activities. The objective of the project and program evaluation is to measure the net benefit of a project or...

This chapter deals with theory-based evaluation. It traces the factors that contributed to a specific outcome for the project. This is a challenging task for project evaluation as it requires establishing a causal chain based upon theoretical considerations and analyzing data on various links in...

This chapter provides a framework for the evaluation of anti-corruption programs. The impact of corruption on public service delivery performance and poverty alleviation is widely recognized. A wide consensus has also recently emerged that corruption is a symptom of failed governance and hence...

This chapter presents a framework for evaluating the quality and timeliness of Public Expenditure Review (PER) as well as conducting a review of its impact. Public Expenditure Review (PER) is a widely used tool by the development assistance community to develop advice on budgetary institutions...

This chapter addresses the impact of the composition of expenditures and the design of programs on the effectiveness of government expenditures. No clear empirical relationship has been found between growth and public expenditures. This may be due to differences in the efficacy of expenditure...

This chapter outlines an approach to evaluating decentralization initiatives. The basic methodology for evaluating individual decentralization projects is outlined with an elaboration of the components of decentralization and steps to be taken in the evaluation. The method for extending the...

This chapter evaluates the conditionality of development assistance in terms of its intended and unintended consequences. The chapter provides conceptual perspectives from the game theory, the public choice, the fiscal federalism, the political economy, the new institutional economics, and the...

This chapter elaborates upon the marginal cost of public funds (MCF) - a measure of the cost imposed on the private sector in raising an additional dollar of tax revenue. In this chapter, we provide a basic introduction to the MCF concept, with numerical examples using a simple demand and supply...