Building Bridges Between Structural and Program Evaluation Approaches to Evaluating Policy

J Econ Lit. 2010 Jun 1;48(2):356-398. doi: 10.1257/jel.48.2.356.

Abstract

This paper compares the structural approach to economic policy analysis with the program evaluation approach. It offers a third way to do policy analysis that combines the best features of both approaches. We illustrate the value of this alternative approach by making the implicit economics of LATE explicit, thereby extending the interpretability and range of policy questions that LATE can answer.