This study examines the contributions of IFPRI over the last 10 years to policy development, training, and capacity-strengthening activities with Malawi, focused particularly on addressing the chronic food insecurity and malnutrition that has prevailed for the last 60 years.The paper is divided...

This paper suggests practical methods for assessing policy research programs, both ex post and ex ante. Measuring the benefits of policy research is difficult: the path of causation between research and policy change is nearly always uncertain; multiple factors influence any particular policy...

The marketing and policy research on rice of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is described, and the conclusions and recommendations are discussed in the context of the decisionmaking processes in Viet Nam. The role of IFPRI's publication and communications in informing...

Policy research is valuable as a source of information for decisionmakers. The value of research is the expected social gain from policy decisions influenced by the information generated. The gain from a decision depends on choosing the best policy given the state of the world, which is...

"The objective of this study is to attempt to characterize the influence and impact of IFPRI in relation to the Mexican PROGRESA/Oportunidades anti-poverty and human resource program with its conditional cash transfers (CCT)—conditional on specific investments in education, health, and...

"This stocktaking workshop provided an opportunity for several groups with active interest in impact assessment relating to agricultural policy research to share experiences and views about what constitutes good practice in this field. The sponsoring organizations have had a long-standing...

This report summarizes papers presented and the discussions that took place at the workshop on Institutional Learning and Change in the CGIAR. It addresses evaluation of agricultural research on poverty in developing countries. Some of the implications emerging from this workshop include: (1)...

Economic research generates a wide array of benefits. These include information, technological change, and improved policy. There are few quantitative studies of the benefits of economic research, and some benefits may be misattributed to biological and physical research. To be productive,...

Any evaluation of the benefits of policy-oriented social science research faces fundamental difficulties. These include the uncertainty in determining a causal link between research and the outcome of a policy or the value of a policy outcome. Nonetheless, firm connections can be established...

In February 1987, the Government of Pakistan (GOP) abolished the wheat ration shop system. Started as a food rationing program during World War II in colonial India, it had degenerated by the 1980s into a wasteful corrupt system that failed to reach the poor. Why did it take so long for this...