19 February 2012

Should evidence determine policy?

There seems little to choose between evidence-based policy-making and policy-based evidence-making. See this discussion: "the idea that we've moved from ideology-based policy-making to evidence-based policy-making...is completely misleading, because the evidence-gathering process is itself value-laden." Life is so rich and complex, and the stakes so high, that so-called experts will always be able to find evidence that justifies whichever policies serve the interests of the highest bidder. So my answer to the question in my header is: no. And my suggestion is just as simple: outcome-based policy. Link

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