Article type
Abstract
Economic policy development is usually preceded by the identification and address of problems associated with economic activities whilst the priorities for targeted intervention is essential for the development of short-term actions and medium to long-term strategic policy objectives. As such the evolving policies have been developed in the public sector on the basis of extensive research using available evidence of public institutions, tertiary institutions and independent professional service providers.
The purpose of our research is to ascertain the array and extent of the data and evidence sources used to inform such policies and its shortcomings consistent with some form of periodisation of these policies. It is not an evaluation, but a mapping of the data and evidence sources used to inform such policies and creating an environment conducive to evidence utilization in economic policy and practice.
The research used a diagnostic approach of evidence collected through observation, data analysis and public participation involving affected stakeholders in public sector that could play an additional role in identifying problems associated with sub-national economic activities that involves categorising economic activities into sectors, analysing value chains, and examining spatial concentration through the clustering and agglomeration of enterprises. This is augmented by theories and suppositions of the labour market, skills development and economic infrastructure.
The study affirmed the range of key evidence sources that were available, frequently and repeated used in public sector throughout the various policy-making cycles. It covers the role of multilateral organisations in setting standards for data quality, the official statistics and other local sources of quantitative data produced by public entities, universities and the private sector.
The research results indicate that there is a considerable dependence on non-official data sources, often stemming from administrative processes or modelling. Despite the absence of a formalized data ecosystem, the efforts to utilise various sources, including official data and administrative data from the public and private sectors, underscore the necessity for an identifiable data and evidence ecosystem built on the sharing of evidence from a variety of sources. These insights will alert evidence users in their respective spaces of dependencies and guide potential risks.
The purpose of our research is to ascertain the array and extent of the data and evidence sources used to inform such policies and its shortcomings consistent with some form of periodisation of these policies. It is not an evaluation, but a mapping of the data and evidence sources used to inform such policies and creating an environment conducive to evidence utilization in economic policy and practice.
The research used a diagnostic approach of evidence collected through observation, data analysis and public participation involving affected stakeholders in public sector that could play an additional role in identifying problems associated with sub-national economic activities that involves categorising economic activities into sectors, analysing value chains, and examining spatial concentration through the clustering and agglomeration of enterprises. This is augmented by theories and suppositions of the labour market, skills development and economic infrastructure.
The study affirmed the range of key evidence sources that were available, frequently and repeated used in public sector throughout the various policy-making cycles. It covers the role of multilateral organisations in setting standards for data quality, the official statistics and other local sources of quantitative data produced by public entities, universities and the private sector.
The research results indicate that there is a considerable dependence on non-official data sources, often stemming from administrative processes or modelling. Despite the absence of a formalized data ecosystem, the efforts to utilise various sources, including official data and administrative data from the public and private sectors, underscore the necessity for an identifiable data and evidence ecosystem built on the sharing of evidence from a variety of sources. These insights will alert evidence users in their respective spaces of dependencies and guide potential risks.