Dean Karlan

The social sector provides services to a wide range of people throughout the world with the aim of creating social value. While doing good is great, doing it well is even better. These organizations, whether nonprofit, for-profit, or public, increasingly need to demonstrate that their efforts are making a positive impact on the world, especially as competition for funding and other scarce resources increases. This heightened focus on impact is positive: learning whether we are making a difference enhances our ability to address pressing social problems effectively and is critical to wise stewardship of resources. Yet demonstrating efficacy remains a big hurdle for most organizations. The Goldilocks Challenge provides a parsimonious framework for measuring the strategies and impact of social sector organizations. A good data strategy starts first with a sound theory of change that helps organizations decide what elements they should monitor and measure. With a theory of change providing solid underpinning, the Goldilocks framework then puts forward four key principles, the CART principles: Credible data that are high quality and analyzed appropriately, Actionable data will actually influence future decisions; Responsible data create more benefits than costs; and Transportable data build knowledge that can be used in the future and by others. Mary Kay Gugerty and Dean Karlan combine their extensive experience working with nonprofits, for-profits and government with their understanding of measuring effectiveness in this insightful guide to thinking about and implementing evidence-based change. This book is an invaluable asset for nonprofit, social enterprise and government leaders, managers, and funders-including anyone considering making a charitable contribution to a nonprofit-to ensure that these organizations get it "just right" by knowing what data to collect, how to collect it, how it can be analyzed, and drawing implications from the analysis. Everyone who wants to make positive change should focus on the top priority: using data to learn, innovate, and improve program implementation over time. Gugerty and Karlan show how.

The 2024 Release of Microeconomics by Dean Karlan and Jonathan Morduch is a transformative update to empower students in reshaping their world. It features a fresh print release, updated eBook/SmartBook, and enriched digital content in Connect® to allow students a seamless transition from page to screen. Karlan and Morduch’s product is a champion for personal and public change, redefining economics as a tool not just for personal gain but for public and business policy betterment. It challenges students to reach conclusions on how they will improve the world, cultivating a mindset that thinks like economists. Microeconomics isn’t just a textbook; it’s an experience allowing students to learn how to use the power of economics to shape a world that's not just better but THEIRS. Erase boundaries between classroom and reality, with content grounded in updated empirical evidence, data, and research. Highlights include fresh insights from diverse voices to offer a broadened perspective, unique topics including game theory, behavioral econ, time/uncertainty, ADA-compliant figures redrawn to ensure accessibility for all learners and so much more.

The 2024 Release of Economics by Dean Karlan and Jonathan Morduch is a transformative update to empower students in reshaping their world. It features a fresh print release, updated eBook/SmartBook, and enriched digital content in Connect® to allow students a seamless transition from page to screen. Karlan and Morduch’s product is a champion for personal and public change, redefining economics as a tool not just for personal gain but for public and business policy betterment. It challenges students to reach conclusions on how they will improve the world, cultivating a mindset that thinks like economists. Economics isn’t just a textbook; it’s an experience allowing students to learn how to use the power of economics to shape a world that's not just better but THEIRS. Erase boundaries between classroom and reality, with content grounded in updated empirical evidence, data, and research. Key highlights include fresh insights from diverse voices among economics researchers to offer a broadened perspective, overhauled Monetary Policy chapter, ADA-compliant figures redrawn to ensure accessibility for all learners and so much more.

En este libro pionero, Karlan y Appel conjugan la economía del comportamiento con la investigación de campo. Llevan a sus lectores consigo por pueblos de todo el mundo – desde Ghana hasta Kenia pasando por Sudáfrica, la India y Filipinas, Perú y México– en los que la teoría económica choca con la realidad. Muestran que ciertos cambios en la banca, los seguros, la asistencia sanitaria, la educación junto con otras iniciativas que tienen en cuenta la irracionalidad humana pueden mejorar radicalmente el bienestar de la gente pobre en todo el mundo. En los países desarrollados hemos encontrado maneras de mejorar profundamente nuestra vida. Utilizamos nuevos instrumentos para gastar de una manera más inteligente, ahorrar más, comer mejor y llevar una vida más acorde con nuestros deseos. Estos instrumentos pueden conseguir lo mismo en sociedades más pobres. Las investigaciones de Karlan y Appel, y las de algunos de sus colegas, muestran exactamente cómo lograrlo. Sólo en Estados Unidos, los particulares donan más de doscientos mil millones de dólares al año a instituciones benéficas, el triple de lo que donan las empresas, las fundaciones y los legados juntos. Este libro presenta una nueva manera de entender lo que realmente funciona para reducir la pobreza y muestra, al mismo tiempo, cómo invertir mejor esos miles de millones y comenzar, de esta forma, a transformar el bienestar de todo el mundo.

Built to focus on what matters to students in today’s high-tech, globalized world, Dean Karlan and Jonathan Morduch’s Macroeconomics represents a new generation of products, optimized for digital delivery and available with best-in-class adaptive study resources in McGraw-Hill Connect. The second edition delivers core economic concepts along with exciting new ideas in economic thought and strives to keep students engaged by confronting issues that are important in the world. This text combines a familiar curriculum with material from new research and applied areas such as finance, behavioral economics, and the political economy. Students and faculty will find content that breaks down barriers between what takes place in the classroom and what happens in our nation and broader world, with applications that are driven by empirical evidence, data, and research. Karlan and Morduch show students that economics is a tool to better one’s own life and promote better public and business policies in the world. At the same time, this second edition challenges students to reach their own conclusions about what “better” really means.

Improve YOUR world. Dean Karlan and Jonathan Morduch’s Economics 3e is built around the central concept that economics is a powerful and positive tool that students can use right now to improve their world. Economics uses examples and issues that resonate with students’ experience to draw them in and frame ideas to help develop their economic intuition. - Using a balanced approach, students are able to sharpen their own understanding of topics by focusing on the data and evidence behind the effects they see. Students are equipped to understand and respond to real-life situations thought their new economic lens and challenged to decided how they will improve their world.-The third edition delivers core economic concepts along with exciting new ideas in economic though and strives to keep students engaged by confronting issues that are important in the world-This text combines a familiar curriculum with material from new research and applied areas such as finance, behavioral economics, and the political economy. Students and faculty will find content that breaks down barriers between what takes place in the classroom and what happens in our nation and our world, with applications that are driven by empirical evidence, data, and research.- Karlan and Morduch show students that economics is a tool to improve one'sown life and promote better public and business policies in the world. At the same time, this third edition challenges students to reach their own conclusions about how they will improve their world.

A revealing look at the common causes of failures in randomized control experiments during field reseach—and how to avoid themAll across the social sciences, from development economics to political science, researchers are going into the field to collect data and learn about the world. Successful randomized controlled trials have brought about enormous gains, but less is learned when projects fail. In Failing in the Field, Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel examine the taboo subject of failure in field research so that researchers might avoid the same pitfalls in future work. Drawing on the experiences of top social scientists working in developing countries, this book describes five common categories of failures, reviews six case studies in detail, and concludes with reflections on best (and worst) practices for designing and running field projects, with an emphasis on randomized controlled trials. Failing in the Field is an invaluable “how-not-to” guide to conducting fieldwork and running randomized controlled trials in development settings.

Built to focus on what matters to students in today’s high-tech, globalized world, Dean Karlan and Jonathan Morduch’s Microeconomics represents a new generation of products, optimized for digital delivery and available with best-in-class adaptive study resources in McGraw-Hill Connect. The second edition delivers core economic concepts along with exciting new ideas in economic thought and strives to keep students engaged by confronting issues that are important in the world. This text combines a familiar curriculum with material from new research and applied areas such as finance, behavioral economics, and the political economy. Students and faculty will find content that breaks down barriers between what takes place in the classroom and what happens in our nation and broader world, with applications that are driven by empirical evidence, data, and research. Karlan and Morduch show students that economics is a tool to better one’s own life and promote better public and business policies in the world. At the same time, this second edition challenges students to reach their own conclusions about what “better” really means.

Built to focus on what matters to students in today's high-tech, globalized world, Dean Karlan and Jonathan Morduch's Economics represents a new generation of products, optimized for digital delivery and available with best-in-class adaptive study resources in Mc-Graw Hill Connect. The second edition delivers core economic concepts along with exciting new ideas in economic though and strives to keep students engaged by confronting issues that are important in the world. This text combines a familiar curriculum with material from new research and applied areas such as finance, behavioral economics, and the political economy. Students and faculty will find content that breaks down barriers between what takes place in the classroom and what happens in our nation and broader world, with applications that are driven by empirical evidence, data, and research. Karlan and Morduch show students that economics is a tool to better one's own life and promote better public and business policies in the world. At the same time, this second edition challenges students to reach their own conclusions about what "better" really means.

All across the social sciences, from development economics to political science departments, researchers are going into the field to collect data and learn about the world. While much has been gained from the successes of randomized controlled trials, stories of failed projects often do not get told. In Failing in the Field, Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel delve into the common causes of failure in field research, so that researchers might avoid similar pitfalls in future work. Drawing on the experiences of top social scientists working in developing countries, this book delves into failed projects and helps guide practitioners as they embark on their research. From experimental design and implementation to analysis and partnership agreements, Karlan and Appel show that there are important lessons to be learned from failures at every stage. They describe five common categories of failures, review six case studies in detail, and conclude with some reflections on best (and worst) practices for designing and running field projects, with an emphasis on randomized controlled trials. There is much to be gained from investigating what has previously not worked, from misunderstandings by staff to errors in data collection. Cracking open the taboo subject of the stumbles that can take place in the implementation of research studies, Failing in the Field is a valuable "how-not-to" handbook for conducting fieldwork and running randomized controlled trials in development settings.

A revolutionary approach to poverty that takes human irrationality into account-and unlocks the mystery of making philanthropic spending really work. American individuals and institutions spent billions of dollars to ease global poverty and accomplished almost nothing. At last we have a realistic way forward. Presenting innovative and successful development interventions around the globe, Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel show how empirical analysis coupled with the latest thinking in behavioral economics can make a profound difference. From Kenya, where teenagers reduced their risk of contracting AIDS by having more unprotected sex with partners their own age, to Mexico, where giving kids a one-dollar deworming pill boosted school attendance better than paying their families to send them, More Than Good Intentions reveals how to invest those billions far more effectively and begin transforming the well-being of the world.