The Evidence Effect: Evidence for more effective social policy in Europe and North America

Generating rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of programs designed to reduce poverty is not just the work of lower and middle-income countries. Countries across Europe and North America are also grappling with how to best tackle deep-rooted and pressing social challenges. These include bolstering social safety nets and better targeting social protection measures, improving access to quality education, helping citizens find employment opportunities, promoting safer communities, and adapting to climate change.

In both regions where we work, expectations of government remain high, though many citizens are frustrated by the failure of social services to keep up with growing challenges. In the United States, recent cuts to research infrastructure and social program funding in the name of government efficiency risk undercutting the capacity of local and national governments to address the issues that people care about. In Europe, continued budgetary pressures as well as increasing demographic challenges mean that many public programs need to do more with less. Crucially, evidence from rigorous evaluations can help government leaders understand what programs and policies actually make a difference and enable them to make an impact even when resources are tight.

Randomized evaluations have already illuminated effective solutions to many pressing challenges

For some of today’s most pressing challenges, we already have effective, evidence-based policy ideas that improve outcomes. Across education, jobs, housing, safety, and social services, rigorous research points to practical approaches that governments can adapt to their local context. In some cases, public leaders have already acted on this evidence and have taken steps to scale up effective approaches, while many more could integrate this evidence into their programs—improving the lives of their constituents.

Learning gaps make it difficult for children from low-income families to catch up, limiting their future opportunities. To improve educational outcomes for low-income and marginalized students, evidence consistently shows that high-impact tutoring can accelerate students’ learning. Several US states have scaled this model, while there is growing interest in Europe in adopting online tutoring models evaluated in Italy and Spain. In France, the education ministry supported the expansion of a parental involvement program after research showed that the program improved student behavior and cut dropout rates. In Bulgaria, eliminating preschool fees increased enrollment among children from marginalized groups. Based on this evidence, eliminating fees has been codified into national law.

Across high-income countries, many workers still lack access to training programs that can lead to well-paying, stable employment. Evaluations show that targeted sectoral employment programs can increase earnings substantially by connecting workers to high-growth industries. The US state of Massachusetts recently awarded US$1M to Per Scholas, an evidence-based sectoral employment program that increased participants’ earnings by 20 percent. In France, the public employment agency’s long-term investment in evaluation has led to refinements in job counseling programs.

Where you live also matters, from accessing quality education to landing good jobs, and too many families remain stuck in neighborhoods with limited opportunities due to high housing costs or systemic barriers. In the United States, the landmark Moving to Opportunity program demonstrated that giving families housing vouchers to move to lower-poverty areas improves long-term economic outcomes, especially for children. This evidence has informed decades of US housing policy, federal investments, and continued research on housing policy innovation.

Crime and safety are pressing concerns across several high-income countries, and policymakers are seeking more effective ways to reduce crime and improve public safety. Behavior change programs in high- and low-income contexts consistently help both law enforcement and members of the public slow down, think differently, and make safer choices in high-stakes situations. Based on this evidence, several US states and cities are recommending that police training include these programs. These programs merit study by European governments looking for similar solutions. In addition, summer youth employment programs, which reduce young people’s criminal justice involvement while improving job readiness, have been scaled up in states and cities across the United States. More government leaders can take advantage of these findings to improve public safety.

Even well-designed programs fail when people can’t access them. Evidence shows that reducing red tape can significantly improve uptake of public benefits, making them both more effective and—by serving more people at a similar cost—more efficient. Studies in France, the United States, and many other contexts have found that nudges in the form of reminders and information can improve take-up, but that some of the largest and most sustainable impacts come from hands-on assistance. Governments could do more to adapt designs to maximize the benefits of public assistance programs.

Using evidence to improve policy requires data infrastructure and collaboration

While high-quality, rigorous evidence is increasingly informing policy, more investment is needed on both sides of the Atlantic to maximize the role evidence can play in policymaking. In the United States, government actors at local, state, and federal levels have made impressive progress towards this aim, but these gains are now under threat. In Europe, government leadership on evidence generation and use is at earlier stages, and a more concerted effort at European and national levels could pay real dividends.

In the United States, actions at the federal level threaten progress made in the bipartisan Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, which laid the groundwork for federal agencies to track data and develop evaluation plans to better inform their programs. More broadly, federal actions to reduce data collection and restrict access, to reduce support for training current and aspiring researchers, and to reduce or eliminate offices and funding dedicated to evaluation weaken the infrastructure necessary to identify effective solutions to the country's most pressing challenges. This is in spite of public support for scientific research: preliminary evidence from J-PAL’s Science for Progress Initiative suggests that the US public is supportive of more, not less, public funding for scientific research and development.

Despite changes at the federal level, many state and local governments in the US continue to champion collaboration with researchers to address their policy priorities. For example, leaders in King County, Washington partner with J-PAL North America to understand the impacts of their policies and adapt programs, including in transportation, housing stability, and climate. State and city environmental agencies from across the country are working with J-PAL North America staff and researchers to identify effective climate action. Continued and increased partnership between researchers and state and local policymakers to generate and apply insights from data and evidence can improve the efficacy and efficiency of government programs.  

If the use of rigorous evidence in policymaking in Europe cannot yet match that seen in the US, we have nevertheless seen policymakers’ demand for better evidence growing rapidly. Several national governments have launched policy labs—many with J-PAL Europe’s support—dedicated to building and using evidence in social policy. France’s Innovation, Data and Experiments in Education (IDEE) makes it possible for education researchers to produce actionable evidence for the government. IDEE improves access to administrative data, develops tools and protocols for rigorous research, and builds partnerships that source from teachers and educators themselves the questions that rigorous research can answer. Spain’s Inclusion Policy Lab has already led 32 randomized evaluations of programs ranging from tutoring to job search assistance. Similar efforts are underway in Luxembourg to mainstream more rigorous scientific analysis into the policymaking process, while the European Commission has partnered with the World Bank to foster more evaluation in competitiveness and cohesion policies. To fully leverage these efforts, more cross-European initiatives are needed to promote research that responds to common questions.

Where should we focus efforts now to expand the use of responsive, relevant, and rigorous research on social programs in North America and Europe? We think four things will help: First, invest in research-policy labs that bring together government leaders and researchers in long-term partnerships to generate practical data and evidence, apply lessons, and scale up programs to efficiently deliver services and improve lives for more people. Second, create opportunities for governments at all levels to generate learning agendas, share ideas, and identify pressing questions—and then connect with researchers to address these questions. Third, support multi-site, coordinated research in each region that addresses questions shared by governments at different levels. And fourth, dedicate public and private funding to make this work possible. When budgets are tight and expectations for government performance are high, the time is right to invest in effective, evidence-based policy that improves people’s lives.