Article type
Abstract
"Background
Governments around the world spend trillions of dollars per year, with surprisingly little evidence about the relative efficacy of expenditure, or ‘what works’. Even where evidence does exist, it can be difficult for policymakers to find, understand, contextualise or determine the appropriate action to take based on that evidence.
Many of these gaps can be filled within countries and institutions. However, some of the gaps appear to cut across countries, suggesting common evidence assets that might be more efficiently shared or commissioned between countries.
The Behavioural Insights Team was commissioned by the UK Economic and Social Research Council to create a blueprint for international collaboration on evidence, with joint participation from the governments of the US, UK, Australia and Canada.
Objectives
To identify:
- Policy areas where there is greatest demand for, but gaps in, evidence across the four countries, as demonstrated through a combination of desk research and interviews
- Shared product[s] to potentially fill the gaps, including in translation and adoption, and ensure the evidence is presented in an easily digestible and actionable format for policymakers
- Candidate institutions to produce the proposed product[s] and/or the institutional form that should be adopted to elicit collaboration between the four countries going forward
- Funders that may be able to kickstart funding in this space, including non-government, and indicative costs for addressing the key evidence and institutional gaps
Methods
- Delphi exercise with 15-20 policymakers per country to understand the key evidence gaps
- Interviews with 12 senior policymakers and evidence producers
- Desk research to map the gaps and possible areas of overlap between the countries.
- A steering group was used throughout the project, comprised of senior individuals within the four governments to provide challenge
Results & Conclusions
The project is concluding at the end of March 2024, therefore we do not currently have finalised results or conclusions. We would be happy to update the abstract once the project is finalised."
Governments around the world spend trillions of dollars per year, with surprisingly little evidence about the relative efficacy of expenditure, or ‘what works’. Even where evidence does exist, it can be difficult for policymakers to find, understand, contextualise or determine the appropriate action to take based on that evidence.
Many of these gaps can be filled within countries and institutions. However, some of the gaps appear to cut across countries, suggesting common evidence assets that might be more efficiently shared or commissioned between countries.
The Behavioural Insights Team was commissioned by the UK Economic and Social Research Council to create a blueprint for international collaboration on evidence, with joint participation from the governments of the US, UK, Australia and Canada.
Objectives
To identify:
- Policy areas where there is greatest demand for, but gaps in, evidence across the four countries, as demonstrated through a combination of desk research and interviews
- Shared product[s] to potentially fill the gaps, including in translation and adoption, and ensure the evidence is presented in an easily digestible and actionable format for policymakers
- Candidate institutions to produce the proposed product[s] and/or the institutional form that should be adopted to elicit collaboration between the four countries going forward
- Funders that may be able to kickstart funding in this space, including non-government, and indicative costs for addressing the key evidence and institutional gaps
Methods
- Delphi exercise with 15-20 policymakers per country to understand the key evidence gaps
- Interviews with 12 senior policymakers and evidence producers
- Desk research to map the gaps and possible areas of overlap between the countries.
- A steering group was used throughout the project, comprised of senior individuals within the four governments to provide challenge
Results & Conclusions
The project is concluding at the end of March 2024, therefore we do not currently have finalised results or conclusions. We would be happy to update the abstract once the project is finalised."