Évaluations « expérimentales » : quelques leçons de l’histoire.

Abstract

A decade into this century, evaluation in France was transformed by a craze for experimental assessment, as was the case in Scandinavia and Germany. This conceptual innovation came about after major development assistance donors were questioned about the relevance of their evaluation practice, and after consideration by theWorld Bank, an associate of the Gates and Hewlett foundations. Subsequently, experimental evaluation has attracted new interest for evaluation by the economics profession. In France, the Revenu de solidarité active provided the opportunity for using it on a large scale. It is unlikely that experimental evaluation will live up to the expectations placed in it by certain new advocates. It will probably, more logically, add to the pluralist methodology involved in the evaluation of policies and public programmes since its beginning.