The Case for Evidence-Based Policy: Beyond Ideology, Politics, and Guesswork: (revised 2008)

Publication Date: August 2008

Publisher: Tax Policy Center

Author(s): Terry Dunworth; Jane Hannaway; John Holahan; Margery Austin Turner

Research Area: Government

Keywords: Health and Health Care; Health Insurance; Poverty and Safety Net; Education

Type: Report

Abstract:

U.S. public policy has increasingly been conceived, debated, and evaluated through the lenses of politics and ideology. The fundamental question--Will the policy work?--too often gets short shrift or even ignored. A remedy is evidence-based policy -- a rigorous approach that draws on careful data collection, experimentation, and both quantitative and qualitative analysis to determine what the problem is, which ways it can be addressed, and the probable impacts of each of these ways. Examples of how evidence informs good policy and lack of evidence can invite bad include health insurance coverage, welfare reform, sentencing policy, and redress for housing discrimination.