Public administration and the promise of evidence-based policy: experience in and beyond Australia

Abstract

This article examines the uncertain growth and future prospects of “evidence-based” policy-making, with a focus on Australia and some other states in which public leaders and officials have claimed to value and promote the use of evidence in policy decision-making. There are many obstacles to developing evidence-informed policy systems, including the availability of investment for data analysis, entrenched political elites and traditional cultural values. The gaps between rhetoric and reality are substantial, even in the more “advanced” states, mainly owing to political considerations such as partisan ideologies and the power of economic and socio-cultural interests. Evidence-based approaches are shown to operate most clearly in those policy areas concerned with technical efficiency, and are less evident in contested areas of social policy. Brief comparisons are drawn between Singapore, Hong Kong and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

Keywords:

• evidence-based policy
• evidence-informed policy systems
• technical efficiency
• social policy