We have not done a formal survey yet (unsure if we will, very time intensive!) so I can’t guarantee there wasn’t a bias in the economists we were able to interview and economists who are supportive of cash-benchmarking. That said, the takeaway from our conversations has been that cash-benchmarking looks promising but unproven.
There are a number of questions on cash-benchmarking that there aren’t yet clear answers to. As the DFID¹ article states, aid is spent on a wide range of objectives many of which are difficult to meaningfully benchmark against cash. We’re currently evaluating country portfolios to get a sense of what type and percentage of projects can be meaningfully benchmarked and cross-compared.
There are also a great deal of details surrounding implementation, without clear consensus either. The goal of our report is not to create the most compelling case for cash-benchmarking, but to accurately summarize the research, collect the case-studies, and hopefully arrive at a set of general recommendations for how to implement cash-benchmarking well.
My best guess is that most issues facing cash-benchmarking are very solvable, but if that turns out to be wrong then we’ll have to find something different to advocate for.
¹ Note that DFID has since been replaced with the FCDO, so the article may no longer reflect the UK government’s current position.
We have not done a formal survey yet (unsure if we will, very time intensive!) so I can’t guarantee there wasn’t a bias in the economists we were able to interview and economists who are supportive of cash-benchmarking. That said, the takeaway from our conversations has been that cash-benchmarking looks promising but unproven.
There are a number of questions on cash-benchmarking that there aren’t yet clear answers to. As the DFID¹ article states, aid is spent on a wide range of objectives many of which are difficult to meaningfully benchmark against cash. We’re currently evaluating country portfolios to get a sense of what type and percentage of projects can be meaningfully benchmarked and cross-compared.
There are also a great deal of details surrounding implementation, without clear consensus either. The goal of our report is not to create the most compelling case for cash-benchmarking, but to accurately summarize the research, collect the case-studies, and hopefully arrive at a set of general recommendations for how to implement cash-benchmarking well.
My best guess is that most issues facing cash-benchmarking are very solvable, but if that turns out to be wrong then we’ll have to find something different to advocate for.
¹ Note that DFID has since been replaced with the FCDO, so the article may no longer reflect the UK government’s current position.