Real Chaos, Today – Randomised controlled trials in economics
Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) in economics face controversy due to limitations like external validity challenges, ethical concerns, and potential diversion from structural issues. Critics question their effectiveness and cost impact on policymaking.
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The article discusses the controversy surrounding Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) in economics, particularly their application in studying social phenomena like job market success and economic interventions. RCTs involve randomly assigning participants to control and treatment groups to study the effects of a treatment or policy. While RCTs are considered the gold standard in economics research for providing valuable insights into what solutions work best for specific problems, they have limitations. These include challenges in external validity, ethical concerns about treating humans as test subjects, and the potential for RCTs to divert attention from broader structural issues. Critics argue that RCTs may not always be the most effective or generalizable research method, despite their credibility. The article also highlights concerns about the high cost of RCTs, their potential impact on policymaking, and the need for careful consideration of study design and reporting. Overall, the debate surrounding RCTs in economics reflects a nuanced discussion on their benefits and limitations in generating actionable knowledge for addressing complex social issues.
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2 commentsA medium sized country has 10M people doing ten transactions per day on average. Why have mathematical models when you only ever need to add and subtract.
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