Where to Spend the Next Million? Applying Impact Evaluation to Trade Assistance

"A welcome trend is emerging towards more clinical and thoughtful approaches to addressing constraints faced by developing countries as they seek to benefit from the gains from trade. But this evolving approach brings with it formidable analytical challenges that we have yet to surmount. We need to know more about available options for evaluating Aid for Trade, which interventions yield the highest returns, and whether experiences in one development area can be transplanted to another. These are some of the issues addressed in this excellent volume." Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organization "Five years into the Aid for Trade project, we still need to learn much more about what works and what does not. Our initiatives offer excellent opportunities to evaluate impacts rigorously. That is the way to better connect aid to results. The collection of essays in this well-timed volume shows that the new approaches to evaluation that we are applying to education, poverty, or health programs can also be used to assess the results of policies to promote or assist trade. This book offers a valuable contribution to the drive to ensure value for aid money." Robert Zoellick, President, The World Bank