Center for Effective Global Action

Center for Effective Global Action
Name	Center for Effective Global Action
Formation	2008
Headquarters	Berkeley, California
Leader title	Directors

Contents

Center for Effective Global Action is a research center based at the University of California, Berkeley that produces evidence on development interventions using randomized evaluations and other empirical methods. The center brings together scholars from multiple institutions to study interventions in health, World Bank, United Nations, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other policy arenas, collaborating with governments such as Government of India, Government of Kenya, Government of Bangladesh, and international organizations including International Monetary Fund, United Nations Development Programme, and World Health Organization. Its work sits at the intersection of academic research practiced at universities like University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Stanford University and policy engagement with actors such as USAID, DFID, and Global Fund.

History

The center was founded in 2008 by scholars affiliated with institutions including University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, and Yale University during a period when randomized controlled trials popularized by figures like Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer, and institutions such as J-PAL and IPA were reshaping development research. Early collaborations linked projects in countries such as India, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, and Bangladesh and engaged governments like Government of Ethiopia and agencies including Millennium Challenge Corporation and Inter-American Development Bank. Over time the center expanded partnerships with research programs at Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, London School of Economics, and think tanks like Brookings Institution and RAND Corporation.

The center’s mission emphasizes rigorous evidence generation and policy translation, drawing on methods from scholars such as Donald Rubin, Angus Deaton, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens and applying techniques popularized across Nobel Prize–winning work in development economics. Research topics span public health interventions tied to World Health Organization priorities, agricultural productivity linked to International Fund for Agricultural Development, financial inclusion interacting with Mastercard Foundation, and education reforms coordinating with actors such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and Global Partnership for Education. The center focuses on randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental designs used by groups like National Bureau of Economic Research, field experiments modeled after work from Development Research Group (World Bank), and impact evaluations peer-reviewed in journals like American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Journal of Political Economy.

Programs include randomized evaluation portfolios targeting malaria control aligned with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation priorities, conditional cash transfer trials reminiscent of designs in Mexico's Progresa program, microfinance assessments in the spirit of work by Muhammad Yunus, and behavioral interventions drawing on theories from Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler. Initiatives have covered vaccine delivery coordinated with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, sanitation projects connected to World Bank Water Global Practice, agricultural extension influenced by Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and gender-focused experiments resonant with studies by Claudia Goldin and Esther Duflo. The center runs training programs and data repositories collaborating with academic publishers like Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press and methodological workshops alongside organizations such as American Statistical Association and Society for Economic Measurement.

Research findings have influenced national policies in countries including India, Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda and informed multilateral programs at World Bank and UNICEF. Evaluations produced by the center appear in leading journals and feed into policy briefs for bodies like Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and G20 task forces, and are cited in reports by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change when interventions intersect with climate resilience. Independent assessments from review outlets such as 3ie and working papers circulated via National Bureau of Economic Research and SSRN have critiqued and validated methods and findings, while impact on practice is reflected in scaled programs administered by implementers like BRAC and Save the Children.

Funding sources include foundations such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Rockefeller Foundation, donor agencies like USAID, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, multilateral lenders including World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, and university support from University of California, Berkeley. Governance involves academic directors and advisory boards comprising scholars affiliated with institutions like Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and policy experts from World Bank and United Nations Development Programme, with oversight mechanisms comparable to those in center governance at J-PAL and Innovations for Poverty Action.

Category:Research institutes