%0 Report
        %A Riddell, Chris
%A Riddell, W. Craig
        %T When Can Experimental Evidence Mislead? A Re-Assessment of Canada's Self Sufficiency Project
        %D 2016
        %8 2016 May
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 9939
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp9939
        %X The Self-Sufficiency Project was a well-known welfare-to-work experiment that provided a generous but time-limited financial incentive to leave welfare and enter the workforce. Experimental evidence showed large short-term impacts but no lasting effects. We argue that these conclusions need to be re-assessed. Policy changes implemented during the SSP implied the behavior of the control group did not provide an appropriate counterfactual. We estimate the impacts the financial incentive would have had in a stable policy environment. This re-assessment leads to significant changes in the lessons previously reached. Our study demonstrates that experimental findings need to be interpreted with care.
        %K welfare-to-work policies
%K social experiments
%K Self-Sufficiency Project