Policy Design: Translating Evidence for Impact

To design effective policies, policy makers must learn how to accurately diagnose complex policy challenges and design evidence-informed solutions that will reliably have an impact. In this course, students will develop the analytical skills to explore various forms of evidence to understand policy challenges and critically assess research and evaluations to develop evidence-informed policy designs. Students will learn how to construct theories of change — moving from problem diagnosis to interventions grounded in empirical research. Students will explore the generalizability of various policies–if and how will the design apply to different people or settings–and scalability–examining the practical and structural factors that determine if successful policies can be expanded. Students will also explore various policy design trade-offs: specificity vs. generalizability; short-term vs long-term results; simple vs. holistic policies; and reaching more people vs deeper engagement. We will examine these questions across various contexts including the US, OECD countries and Low and Low-Middle Income countries. We will delve into a range of policy challenges, including poverty alleviation, education, healthcare, and governance. By the end of the course, students will be prepared to design evidence-informed policies: reading the literature critically, considering context and uncertainty, and making educated  recommendations in the face of complex, real-world constraints.