Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/81055 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2013/024
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
Ancillary experiments' are a new technique whereby researchers use a completed experiment conducted by others to recover causal estimates of a randomized intervention on new outcomes. The method requires pairing new outcome data with randomized treatments the researchers themselves did not oversee. Since ancillary experiments rely on interventions that have already been undertaken, oftentimes by governments, they can provide a low-cost method with which to identify the effects of large-scale and possibly ethically difficult interventions. We define this technique, identify the small but growing universe of studies that employ ancillary experiments in political science and economics, and assess the benefits and limitations of the method.
Subjects: 
experimental methods
government performance
ancillary experiments
downstream experiments
causal inference
research design
JEL: 
C9
O43
D7
ISBN: 
978-92-9230-601-4
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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