Why the insistence on program evaluation and measuring impact should be taken with salt

In the annals of the "flip-charts have no effects" department...
Adult Literacy Programs in Ghana: An Evaluation
2004
Niels-Hugo Blunch
Department of Economics
George Washington University
Claus C Portner
Department of Economics
University of Washington
Abstract
This paper examines the effect of adult literacy program participation on household consumption in Ghana. We find that in most cases there is no significant effect on consumption from participation after allowing for self-selection into the program. For households where no adults have completed any formal education there is, however, a substantial positive and statistically significant effect on household consumption, pointing towards the potential importance of adult literacy programs for the parts of the population which have not participated in the formal education system. Possible explanations for why adult literacy program participation does not seem to significantly affect households where some formal education has been attained are explored, as well.