Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam
Could the simplifying assumptions made in project appraisal be so far from the truth that the expected benefits of public investments are not realized? Using data for Vietnam, commonly used estimates of the benefits from irrigation investments base...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English en_US |
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Washington, DC: World Bank
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2011/01/17736783/ignoring-heterogeneity-impacts-distort-project-appraisals-experiment-irrigation-vietnam http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17219 |
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okr-10986-172192021-04-23T14:03:29Z Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam Van de Walle, Dominique Gunewardena, Dileni ACCESS TO IRRIGATION AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY AGRICULTURAL POLICY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE ARABLE LAND BENCHMARK CATCHMENT AREA COMMUNES CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMER PRICE INDEX COST OF LIVING CROP INCOME CROP PRODUCTION CROPLAND CROPPING PATTERNS DELTA REGION DESCRIPTION DEVELOPMENT BANKS DISTRIBUTION OF ACCESS DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME DISTRIBUTION OF LAND DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS DISTRICTS ECONOMETRIC MODELING ECONOMIC COOPERATION EQUALITY EXPANSION OF IRRIGATION FARM HOUSEHOLDS FARM INCOME FARM OUTPUT FARM SIZE FARMER FARMERS FEMALE FOOD CROPS FOOD POLICY GENDER HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSING HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME SHARES INCREASING RETURNS IRRIGATED LAND IRRIGATING IRRIGATION IRRIGATION EXPANSION IRRIGATION INFRASTRUCTURE IRRIGATION INVESTMENT IRRIGATION INVESTMENTS IRRIGATION NETWORKS IRRIGATION PROJECTS LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKETS LAND ASSETS LAND HOLDINGS LAND QUALITY LAND REFORM LAND TENURE LANDHOLDINGS LIVING STANDARDS Could the simplifying assumptions made in project appraisal be so far from the truth that the expected benefits of public investments are not realized? Using data for Vietnam, commonly used estimates of the benefits from irrigation investments based on means are compared with impacts assessed through an econometric modeling of marginal returns that allows for household and area heterogeneity using integrated household-level survey data. The simpler method performs well in estimating average benefits nationally but can be misleading for some regions, and, by ignoring heterogeneity, it overestimates gains to the poor and underestimates gains to the rich. At moderate to high cost levels, ignoring heterogeneity in impacts results in enough mistakes to eliminate the net benefits from public investment. When irrigating as little as 3 percent of Vietnam's non-irrigated land, the savings from the more data-intensive method are sufficient to cover the full cost of the extra data required, ignoring other benefits from that data. 2014-03-04T21:54:18Z 2014-03-04T21:54:18Z 2001-01 Journal Article http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2011/01/17736783/ignoring-heterogeneity-impacts-distort-project-appraisals-experiment-irrigation-vietnam World Bank Economic Review http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17219 English en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research East Asia and Pacific Vietnam |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ACCESS TO IRRIGATION AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY AGRICULTURAL POLICY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE ARABLE LAND BENCHMARK CATCHMENT AREA COMMUNES CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMER PRICE INDEX COST OF LIVING CROP INCOME CROP PRODUCTION CROPLAND CROPPING PATTERNS DELTA REGION DESCRIPTION DEVELOPMENT BANKS DISTRIBUTION OF ACCESS DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME DISTRIBUTION OF LAND DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS DISTRICTS ECONOMETRIC MODELING ECONOMIC COOPERATION EQUALITY EXPANSION OF IRRIGATION FARM HOUSEHOLDS FARM INCOME FARM OUTPUT FARM SIZE FARMER FARMERS FEMALE FOOD CROPS FOOD POLICY GENDER HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSING HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME SHARES INCREASING RETURNS IRRIGATED LAND IRRIGATING IRRIGATION IRRIGATION EXPANSION IRRIGATION INFRASTRUCTURE IRRIGATION INVESTMENT IRRIGATION INVESTMENTS IRRIGATION NETWORKS IRRIGATION PROJECTS LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKETS LAND ASSETS LAND HOLDINGS LAND QUALITY LAND REFORM LAND TENURE LANDHOLDINGS LIVING STANDARDS |
| spellingShingle |
ACCESS TO IRRIGATION AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY AGRICULTURAL POLICY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE ARABLE LAND BENCHMARK CATCHMENT AREA COMMUNES CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMER PRICE INDEX COST OF LIVING CROP INCOME CROP PRODUCTION CROPLAND CROPPING PATTERNS DELTA REGION DESCRIPTION DEVELOPMENT BANKS DISTRIBUTION OF ACCESS DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME DISTRIBUTION OF LAND DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS DISTRICTS ECONOMETRIC MODELING ECONOMIC COOPERATION EQUALITY EXPANSION OF IRRIGATION FARM HOUSEHOLDS FARM INCOME FARM OUTPUT FARM SIZE FARMER FARMERS FEMALE FOOD CROPS FOOD POLICY GENDER HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSING HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME SHARES INCREASING RETURNS IRRIGATED LAND IRRIGATING IRRIGATION IRRIGATION EXPANSION IRRIGATION INFRASTRUCTURE IRRIGATION INVESTMENT IRRIGATION INVESTMENTS IRRIGATION NETWORKS IRRIGATION PROJECTS LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKETS LAND ASSETS LAND HOLDINGS LAND QUALITY LAND REFORM LAND TENURE LANDHOLDINGS LIVING STANDARDS Van de Walle, Dominique Gunewardena, Dileni Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam |
| geographic_facet |
East Asia and Pacific Vietnam |
| description |
Could the simplifying assumptions made
in project appraisal be so far from the truth that the
expected benefits of public investments are not realized?
Using data for Vietnam, commonly used estimates of the
benefits from irrigation investments based on means are
compared with impacts assessed through an econometric
modeling of marginal returns that allows for household and
area heterogeneity using integrated household-level survey
data. The simpler method performs well in estimating average
benefits nationally but can be misleading for some regions,
and, by ignoring heterogeneity, it overestimates gains to
the poor and underestimates gains to the rich. At moderate
to high cost levels, ignoring heterogeneity in impacts
results in enough mistakes to eliminate the net benefits
from public investment. When irrigating as little as 3
percent of Vietnam's non-irrigated land, the savings
from the more data-intensive method are sufficient to cover
the full cost of the extra data required, ignoring other
benefits from that data. |
| format |
Journal Article |
| author |
Van de Walle, Dominique Gunewardena, Dileni |
| author_facet |
Van de Walle, Dominique Gunewardena, Dileni |
| author_sort |
Van de Walle, Dominique |
| title |
Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam |
| title_short |
Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam |
| title_full |
Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam |
| title_fullStr |
Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam |
| title_sort |
does ignoring heterogeneity in impacts distort project appraisals? an experiment for irrigation in vietnam |
| publisher |
Washington, DC: World Bank |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2011/01/17736783/ignoring-heterogeneity-impacts-distort-project-appraisals-experiment-irrigation-vietnam http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17219 |
| _version_ |
1764433080404148224 |