In this dissertation I conduct an impact evaluation of a complex rural development project in Central America with more than one intervention taking place at the same time, purposive program placement, and project participant freedom to self-select to project interventions. For this purpose I use quasi-experimental panel data techniques difference in difference, propensity score matching difference-in-differences, and propensity score weighted regression to correct for selection bias due to self-selection by project participants and purposive selection of project beneficiaries. Project impacts two years after implementation began are indicated by early behavior changes in the adoption of agricultural technologies and practices, as outcomes to be evaluated after two years of project implementation. The project had impacts on adoption of soil and water agricultural conservation practices, use of improved storage technologies, and number of households with savings. These outcomes are likely to lead to long-term project impacts. Project impacts differ according to wealth, as measured by area of cultivated land. Results suggest that the designers of multi-intervention rural development projects should consider targeting different groups, based upon beneficiaries characteristics, instead of promoting the full set of interventions to all beneficiaries. Impact evaluations of multi-intervention development projects should also account for how project interventions will differ in the likely time lapse before behavioral changes can generate long term outcomes.In addition, I investigate how participation in group-based rural development project interventions affects levels of trust, a potential indirect outcome of rural development projects. To measure trust effects, I conducted a field-based trust experiment with integrated attitudinal trust questions. The results suggest that group-based rural development project interventions are likely to increase trust levels among farmers in the same village. Higher trust levels are expected to contribute to rural development and increased agricultural income by facilitating market exchange via reduced transaction costs and increased information sharing.
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