Experiments have become an ever more common tool for learning about what works in development, but they generally do not provide much insight into why particular interventions have the impact they do. A study of governance in Uganda’s health sector will highlight the ways in which experimental work can be used to shed light on the conditions under which an intervention is likely to work and the mechanisms underlying its effectiveness.

Dan Posner is the James S. Coleman Professor of International Development at UCLA. Posner’s research focuses on ethnic politics, research design, distributive politics, and the political economy of development in Africa. He is co-founder of the Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE) and serves on the executive committee of the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network.