SEMINAR ON IMPACT EVALUATION OF PUBLIC POLICIES FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES (MSMES) IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Panama City, Panama City, Panama. September  10 to 12, 2018 . The Executive Hotel. 52nd Street, Aquilino de la Guardia.

AGENDA

Monday, 10 September 2018

Morning 

  

8:30 – 9:00

  REGISTRATION 

9:00 - 9:10

CULTURAL ACTIVITY: PRESENTATION OF PANAMANIAN FOLKLORIC GROUP

 9:10– 9:45

 OPENING SESSION 

  • María Celia Dopeso, Minister and Director-General of the Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Authority (AMPYME) of the Republic of Panama
  • Javier Gordon Ruiz, Director (ai) of Relations for Integration and Cooperation Coordinator of the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA)
  • Nadia Goncalves, Project Manager of the Latin American Centre for Development Administration (CLAD)
  • Gustavo Valderrama, Vice-ministry of Economy of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) of the Republic of Panama

9:45 - 9:50

OFFICIAL PHOTO

9:50-10:30

SESSION I: Introduction to impact evaluation and experimental evaluation methods

Trainer: Lesbia Maris 

  • Public policy and learning
  • Types of evaluation
  • Impact evaluation
      • What is an impact evaluation and what questions does it answer?
      • How does it differ from other evaluations?
10:30-10:45

COFFEE BREAK
10:45-12:30

SESSION I (continuation) Impact evaluation 

  • Fundamental problem of causal identification
  • Selection bias
  • Construction of an appropriate counterfactual scenario: alternatives
12:30-14:00

LUNCH

 

 

Afternoon

 

14:00-15:30

SESSION II: Experimental evaluations

Trainer: Lesbia Maris - Lesbia Maris - Specialist of the Directorate for Impact Evaluation and Policy Learning of CAF-development bank of Latin America

  • What is an experiment and how does it resolve the problem of causal identification?
  • Some methodological extensions of experiments
  • Practical and ethical challenges of experiments
  • Limits of experiments

15:30-15:45

COFFEE BREAK
15:45-17:00

SESSION III: Difference-in-difference method

Trainer: Lesbia Maris - Lesbia Maris - Specialist of the Directorate for Impact Evaluation and Policy Learning of CAF-development bank of Latin America

  • Definition of natural experiments
  • Assumption of parallel trends
  • Data required: longitudinal data vs. repeated cross-sectional data 
   

Tuesday, 11 September 2018

Morning 

  

9:00-10:30

SESSION IV:  

Trainer: Laura Atuesta - Research Professor of the Centre for Research and Teaching on Economics

  • Estimate of the difference-in-difference method
  • Practical examples

10:30-10:45

COFFEE BREAK

10:45-12:30

SESSION IV (continuation) Impact evaluation

Trainer: Laura Atuesta - Research Professor of the Centre for Research and Teaching on Economics

  • Requirements to use the matching method: theoretical assumptions
  • Definition and estimation of the propensity score
  • Matching algorithms
  • Estimation of the matching method
  • Practical examples

12:30-14:00

LUNCH

 

 

Afternoon

 

14:00-15:30 

SESSION V: Method of instrumental variables

Trainer: Laura Atuesta - Research Professor of the Centre for Research and Teaching on Economics

  • Definition of instrumental variables
  • Theoretical assumptions: relevance and exogeneity
  • Examples of instrumental variables
  • Instrumental variable estimation method
  • Practical examples 

15:30-15:45 

COFFEE BREAK

15:45-17:00

SESSION VI: Discontinuous regression method

Trainer: Laura Atuesta - Research Professor of the Centre for Research and Teaching on Economics

  • When can the discontinuous regression method be used?
  • Identification of the participation threshold
  • Theoretical assumptions: local continuity
  • Estimation of the discontinuous regression method
  • Practical examples 

 

 

Wednesday, 12 September 2018

Afternoon

  

9:00-10:30 

SESSION VII: Summary of evaluation theory

Trainers: Lesbia Maris and Laura Atuesta 

  • Importance of the logical framework matrix and indicators
  • Approach to evaluation questions
  • When can we do an impact evaluation?
  • Summary of impact evaluation methodologies

10:30-10:45 

COFFEE BREAK

10:45-12:30 

Case study on evaluation methodologies

Trainers: Lesbia Maris, Laura Atuesta and Ana Goicoechea

12:30-14:00 

LUNCH

14:00-15:00

 

(Continuation) Case study on evaluation methodologies

Trainers: Lesbia Maris, Laura Atuesta and Ana Goicoechea

15:00-17:30

SESSION VIII:  Impact evaluation to enhance the efficiency of projects for SMEs

Trainer: Ana Goicoechea - Chief Economist of Competitiveness Policy Evaluation Laboratory of the World Bank

  • Limitations for SMEs growth
  • Evidence on the impact of SMEs-supporting interventions
  • The World Bank’s Programme of impact evaluation for SMEs 

 17:30 - 18:00

 CLOSSING SESSION

 

 
  • Javier Gordon Ruiz, Director (a.i.) Relations for Integration and Cooperation of the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA)
  • Nadia Goncalves, Project Manager of the Latin American Centre for Development Administration (CLAD)
  • Daniel Roa Yusti, Analysts of Relations for Integration and Cooperation of the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA)