Experimental

‘’Who's Afraid of Policy Experiments?’’ 🧐 In recent years, as randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have gained popularity in policy research, concerns about their supposed implementation challenges, external validity, and ethical concerns have emerged. Common pushback includes: “Unfortunately we don’t have the necessary in-house skills”; “Are you suggesting that turning people into lab rats promotes social welfare?”; “Sounds expensive! There's hardly any money for covering our programs as it is”... These concerns are shared by politicians, policymakers and some researchers, who often anticipate public resistance to rigorous evaluations. 👏 However, new research by Dur et al. reveals an encouraging insight: voters in fact value the generation of evidence via policy experiments! 💡 Carried out in The Netherlands, the study finds that voters appreciate experiments particularly when they lack strong opinions on a given policy, aligning with the idea that rigorous findings may effectively inform policy-making. 🗳️ Furthermore, voters are more likely to support their preferred party if it advocates for policy experimentation. 🥴 While voters are split on concerns like fairness, consent, and validity in policy experiments, many believe politicians avoid these experiments due to fear of losing votes—despite voter support for policy experiments. At Experimental we believe that politicians underestimating voter's ability to grasp experimental policy are missing an opportunity to resonate with a powerful and pertinent message. If you're a policymaker eager to drive meaningful change, reach out to us—we’d love to collaborate. And for everyone else, stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll debunk common myths about policy experimentation! Read the full working paper here: https://lnkd.in/duCNszYg

📝 Quisiéramos compartir contigo la siguiente columna sobre el Fondo de Evaluación de Impacto (FEI) en el Gobierno de Chile, escrita por uno de los fundadores de Experimental y creador de este Fondo, Ryan C.; y por el Profesor de Economía y Políticas Públicas en la Universidad Católica de Chile, Pablo Celhay. https://lnkd.in/djASK7t9 📲 Si quieres saber más sobre el FEI y su actual convocatoria abierta, puedes ingresar a este enlace: https://lnkd.in/eTBmWJdt

🤔 How can governments around the world promote mission-oriented approaches? 🇬🇧 Recently, the UK government committed to a mission-based approach, emphasizing five strategic areas: growth, public health, clean energy, security, and opportunity. 💡 In this blog post (https://lnkd.in/gbaqrXfM), The Behavioural Insights Team and Nesta highlight three key strategies for achieving this approach: experimenting and driving innovation, shaping systems and markets, and harnessing intelligence. 👏🏻 At Experimental, we are convinced these strategies are the right approach and align with the vision of using experimental methods to foster government innovation. All governments worldwide can leverage available knowledge and build capabilities to implement an experimental approach within their policies and pursue an evidence-informed mission. 🤓 An experimental approach is essential to understanding what works and what doesn’t, both in new initiatives and well-established public policies and programs that have yet to prove their effectiveness. Conducting robust analyses based on randomized controlled trials and evaluations using other sources of variation (such as natural experiments) is possible. It is necessary to work at a systems level, generating partnerships, aligning incentives, building organizational structures, and fostering a culture of evidence-informed policy. 📊 We recommend and endorse this blog from BIT and encourage governments worldwide to implement a mission-based approach based on experimental methods, behavioral insights, and structural government programs and policies. It does not require a large initial investment but rather a strategic adjustment, efficient use of existing resources, and support for implementing an experimental agenda that ensures early successes and proves its value to decision-makers and society.

Are you passionate about applying scientific methods to tackle real-world challenges? Stay tuned for updates on our projects and discover how we leverage science to influence policy and business decisions!

We are proud to launch Experimental, a new venture harnessing the experimental method, Artificial Intelligence, and qualitative strategies to generate evidence for policy and business decision-making. Our firm is built on our partners' collective experience in academic research and applied economics, boasting over 15 years of expertise across various countries specializing in Latin America and the Caribbean. Because we can attest to its transformative power, we are dedicated to promoting, harnessing, and enhancing the role of science in policy-making and business strategies. 🌐 Our Approach: Experimental focuses on experimental incubation, design, implementation, and matchmaking with faculty worldwide, allowing us, together with our clients and partners, to address critical academic, policy, and business questions effectively. We specialize in controlled and natural experiments, program evaluation, and monitoring and evaluation system design. 📊 Background: Experimental benefits from our team's collaborations with governments, non-profits, faculty, and multilateral organizations. Our extensive network of outstanding researchers worldwide enriches our experience and strengthens our connections. 🔬 Core Mission: Central to Experimental is our commitment to promoting, applying, and advancing scientific methodologies in policy and business. We are driven by the belief in the transformative power of scientific research and evidence-informed approaches for meaningful change. 🌟 Services: Experimental offers a suite of services such as experimental incubation and design, matchmaking with faculty, grant management, and consulting, drawing on our partners' extensive experience. We are committed to using our collective expertise to provide innovative, science-driven solutions in policy and business. 🤝 Meet Our Founding CEO and Chairman: Diana Mueses, Partner and Founding CEO, earned a Master's in Quantitative Economics from UCLA and holds a Master's in Applied Mathematics at INTEC. She has served as a Policy Consultant at the University of Chicago and collaborates with the economic advisor to the president of the Dominican Republic. Ryan C., Partner and Chairman, earned his Master's in Economics from Universidad de Chile and is on leave from his MPA at Harvard Kennedy School. He designed and led the Experimental Policy Initiative at the Chilean Budget Office and was the founding Executive Director of JPAL LAC. Ryan also served as director of the Weiss Fund for Research in Development Economics and is currently the Director of Government Innovation at the University of Chicago and Chairman of Consilium Bots. Check out our other partners LinkedIn profiles: - Elisa Behnke - Mohit Karnani - Alvaro M. Carreño Join our journey as we bring scientific rigor and creative insights to the forefront of policy-making and business strategy. Stay tuned for updates from the Experimental team!