Investing in what works: The importance of evidence-based policymaking

Belt-tightening at all levels of government highlights the need to maximize the impact of taxpayer dollars. While there has been much rhetoric surrounding the need for data-driven policy, the calls are becoming louder for a real shift toward rigorous evaluation of new and existing programs to ensure that policymakers are driving tax dollars toward those programs with a track record of success.

On April 17th, The Hamilton Project at Brookings and Results for America, an initiative of America Achieves, co-hosted a forum and released two new papers on the crucial role of evidence and results in policymaking. U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), and Alan Krueger, Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, joined former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin for a roundtable discussion on the importance of harnessing evidence to improve the effectiveness of federally funded programs.

Jeffrey B. Liebman of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government also discussed a new proposal on reforming government funding practices to reward innovation and evidence, and Louis Jacobson of New Horizons Economic Research discussed a policy proposal to motivate better data collection and evaluation in workforce development. Former White House Domestic Policy Council Director John Bridgeland and New York City Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs joined the authors for a roundtable discussion on these proposals.