TY - CHAP
T1 - Nudging and experimenting in a post-truth, post-COVID world
AU - John, Peter
PY - 2023/10/19
Y1 - 2023/10/19
N2 - This chapter reviews the historical development of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and behavioural change policies (behavioural insights [BI]) as the "twins of modern public policy evaluation". It notes how trials moved from complex evaluations, usually of social policies, to more rapid and generic testing, aided by the growing popularity of BI, using examples from the United Kingdom and the United States, Europe, as well as Australia. Concurrent with this growing popularity of robust evaluation, challenges to scientific hegemony have emerged through movements that question the authority of facts and give great value to intuition and popular feelings about policy, leading to what is called the "post- truth world". Also, BI may be seen as essential liberal paternalist in that they are used to decide policies for people and then seeks to manipulate them, using RCTs to achieve a predetermined outcome decided by scientific experts. This appears to be just the kind of policy that populist leaders would seek to resist, but evidence suggests continuing popularity of such nudge policies. One answer to this paradox is that nudges and the use of RCTs are probably less top-down than they commonly appear and imply policymaking informed by trial-and-errors.
AB - This chapter reviews the historical development of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and behavioural change policies (behavioural insights [BI]) as the "twins of modern public policy evaluation". It notes how trials moved from complex evaluations, usually of social policies, to more rapid and generic testing, aided by the growing popularity of BI, using examples from the United Kingdom and the United States, Europe, as well as Australia. Concurrent with this growing popularity of robust evaluation, challenges to scientific hegemony have emerged through movements that question the authority of facts and give great value to intuition and popular feelings about policy, leading to what is called the "post- truth world". Also, BI may be seen as essential liberal paternalist in that they are used to decide policies for people and then seeks to manipulate them, using RCTs to achieve a predetermined outcome decided by scientific experts. This appears to be just the kind of policy that populist leaders would seek to resist, but evidence suggests continuing popularity of such nudge policies. One answer to this paradox is that nudges and the use of RCTs are probably less top-down than they commonly appear and imply policymaking informed by trial-and-errors.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85178577926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4337/9781800884892.00032
DO - 10.4337/9781800884892.00032
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85178577926
SN - 9781800884885
T3 - Handbooks of Research on Public Policy
SP - 352
EP - 365
BT - Handbook of Public Policy Evaluation
A2 - Varone, Frédéric
A2 - Jacob, Steve
A2 - Bundi, Pirmin
PB - Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
ER -