Biography
Maren Duvendack has a PhD in development economics from the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK. Her key research areas cover applied micro-econometrics, impact evaluation, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, microfinance, replication and reproduction of quantitative analyses as well as research ethics.
After completing her PhD she joined the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC as a Postdoctoral Fellow before joining the Overseas Development Institute in London as a Research Fellow in evaluation and impact assessment. She is now a Senior Lecturer in the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia where she is mainly teaching on the MSc Impact Evaluation for International Development.
Maren has extensively worked on microfinance impact evaluations in India and Bangladesh. She is particularly interested in the link between microfinance, empowerment and reproductive health. She has more recently worked on quantitative impact evaluations for IFAD, DFAT (formerly AusAid), the World Food Programme and the Gates Foundation on a range of themes across South Asia and East Africa. Maren also completed a number of systematic reviews for DFID and for 3ie on microfinance, payments-by-results as well as on the link between government policies and income inequalities.
Maren’s contributions appeared in a number of academic journals and she regularly presents her work at international conferences.
All Publications
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(2018)
Does Government Spending Affect Income Poverty? A Meta-regression Analysis,
in World Development
103
pp. 60–71
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2017)
Does government spending affect income inequality? A meta-regression analysis,
in Journal of Economic Surveys
31
(4)
pp. 961–987
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2017)
Quasi-experimental study designs series –Paper 9: Collecting Data from Quasi-Experimental Studies,
in Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
89
pp. 77-83
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2017)
Quasi-experimental study designs series – Paper 10: Synthesizing evidence for effects collected from quasi-experimental studies presents surmountable challenges,
in Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
89
pp. 84-91
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2017)
What Is Meant by “Replication” and Why Does It Encounter Resistance in Economics?,
in American Economic Review
107
(5)
pp. 46-51
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2017)
Poverty Reduction or the Financialisation of Poverty?,
in Seduced and Betrayed: Exposing the Contemporary Microfinance Phenomenon.
University of New Mexico Press
ISBN 978-0-8263-5796-0
Full Text(Chapter (peer-reviewed))
(Published)
(2017)
Micro-finance, women’s empowerment and fertility decline in Bangladesh: How important was women’s agency?,
in Journal of Development Studies
53
(5)
pp. 664-683
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2016)
Impact Evaluation for International Development: The Essential Guide,
Routledge
ISBN 978-0415830928 , 0415830923
Full Text UEA Repository(Book)
(Published)
(2015)
The impact of government policies on income inequality and the translation of growth into income poverty reduction: protocol for two systematic reviews,
in Journal of Development Effectiveness
7
(4)
pp. 484-498
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2015)
Replications in Economics: A Progress Report,
in Econ Journal Watch
12
(2)
pp. 164-191
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2015)
(Mis)use of evidence in microfinance programming in the global south: a critique,
in Contemporary Social Science
10
(2)
pp. 202-211
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2015)
The Seen and the Unseen: Revisiting the Impact of SEWA Bank,
in Microfinance in India: Approaches, Outcomes, Challenges.
Routledge
(Chapter (peer-reviewed))
(Published)
(2014)
Things you wanted to know about bias in evaluations but never dared to think,
in IDS Bulletin
45
(6)
pp. 49–64
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2014)
Impact evaluation: are we ‘off the ‘Gold standard’?: Impact evaluation,
in European Journal of Development Research
26
(1)
pp. 1-54
Full Text(Special issue)
(Published)
(2014)
Replication of Quantitative Work in Development Studies: Experiences and Suggestions,
in Methodological Challenges and New Approaches to Research in International Development.
Palgrave Macmillan
pp. 238-260
ISBN 9781137293619
Full Text UEA Repository(Chapter)
(Published)
(2014)
The Effects of Microcredit on Women's Control over Household Spending in Developing Countries,
Full Text UEA Repository(Working paper)
(Published)
(2014)
Impact Evaluation – Are We ‘Off the Gold Standard’?,
in European Journal of Development Research
26
pp. 1-11
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2014)
Meta-analysis of the Impact of Microcredit on Women’s Control over Household Decisions: Methodological Issues and Substantive Findings,
in Journal of Development Effectiveness
6
(2)
pp. 73-96
Full Text UEA Repository(Article)
(Published)
(2014)
Wir wissen nur, dass wir nichts wissen: Zur Beweislage über die Wirksamkeit von Mikrofinanzen,
in Rendite machen und Gutes tun? Mikrokredite und die Folgen neoliberaler Entwicklungspolitik.
Campus Verlag
(Chapter (peer-reviewed))
(Published)
(2013)
Adapting a Systematic Review for Social Research in International Development – A Case Study from the Child Protection Sector,
UEA Repository(Working paper)
(Published)
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Key Research Interests
Maren is a specialist in quantitative impact evaluation methodologies. Her key research areas cover development economics, applied micro-econometrics, impact evaluation, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, microfinance, replication and reproduction of quantitative analyses as well as research ethics. She has replicated the results of microfinance impact evaluations in Bangladesh, and spent extensive time in the field conducting her own microfinance evaluation in India.
She was particularly engaged in the replication of the microfinance impact evaluation published by Pitt and Khandker which can be comprehended by working through the following documents listed below:
Duvendack, M. & Palmer-Jones, R., 2012. “High Noon for Microfinance Impact Evaluations: Re-investigating the Evidence from Bangladesh.” Journal of Development Studies, 48(12):1864-1880.
The following files contain the “High Noon…” paper as well as the online appendix:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/~nga07htu/Duvendack_Palmer-Jones_2012.pdf
http://www.uea.ac.uk/~nga07htu/Duvendack_Palmer-Jones_2012_OnlineAppendix.pdf
You will need these two files to replicate the “High Noon…” paper in STATA:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/~nga07htu/PSM_Prep_all_Final.DTA (right click and choose 'Save Target As...')
http://www.uea.ac.uk/~nga07htu/HighNoonPaper_Final.do (right click and choose 'Save Target As...')
Matthieu Chemin and Mark Pitt both commented on our "High Noon..." paper and our short response to their comments can be found in JDS: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220388.2012.747781
Further to this, Matthieu Chemin published longer comments (http://matthieuchemin-research.mcgill.ca/research.html) on our “High Noon…” paper and our response to these can be found here: http://www.uea.ac.uk/~nga07htu/Rejoinder_to_Chemin_Final.pdf
The following files are needed to comprehend and replicate the points we are making in our response to Chemin's longer comments: http://www.uea.ac.uk/~nga07htu/CheminReply.zip
Mark Pitt also published a longer comment (http://www.brown.edu/research/projects/pitt/) on our “High Noon…” paper and we respond as follows:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/~nga07htu/Rejoinder_to_Pitt_Final.pdf
The following data and code are needed to replicate the points we are making in our response to Pitt’s longer comments:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/~nga07htu/PittReply.zip
Teaching Interests
Maren is largely teaching on the MSc Impact Evaluation for International Development and she is currently convening the module Welfare and Evaluation in Development. She also contributes to the MA Globalisation, Business and Sustainable Development as well as selected undergraduate courses.
She is the director of the professional short course “Impact Evaluation for Evidence-Based Policy in Development” which is a 2-week long course held at UEA every summer.