Category Archives: Randomisation

What’s the Evidence on Evidence Based Policy?

Posted on April 1, 2010 by andrewleigh

Last year, the Productivity Commission ran an event on the topic ‘Strengthening Evidence-based Policy in the Australian Federation’, of which I was one of the participants (my contribution was titled: ‘Evidence-based policy: summon the randomistas?’). The PC has now produced … Continue reading →

Posted in Australian Politics, Economics Generally, Randomisation | 4 Comments

Understanding Tax Evasion

Posted on March 18, 2010 by andrewleigh

As regular blog readers will know, I’m a big fan of randomisation. In the context of tax audits, this is particularly useful. Though politically controversial, random audit experiments like the US TCMP have taught us a lot about who underreports … Continue reading →

Posted in Randomisation, Tax | 3 Comments

Why Smart Firms Should Experiment

Posted on January 5, 2010 by andrewleigh

My AFR op-ed today is on the use of experiments by businesses as a means of improving productivity. Full text over the fold. Joshua Gans and I have been contemplating running a conference on this topic in 2011, so if … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics Generally, Randomisation | 4 Comments

Radical Hope: A Response

Posted on December 7, 2009 by andrewleigh

In October, Noel Pearson wrote a Quarterly Essay on Indigenous education titled “Radical Hope: Education and Equality in Australia”. In the December issue, I have a letter published in response. Full text over the fold.

Posted in Economics of Education, Indigenous Policy, Randomisation | 2 Comments

Randomised political trials, drugs and crime

Posted on September 28, 2009 by andrewleigh

Two interesting new economics papers from the latest NBER batch. Party Affiliation, Partisanship, and Political Beliefs: A Field Experiment (ungated unstable link) Alan S. Gerber, Gregory A. Huber & Ebonya Washington Political partisanship is strongly correlated with attitudes and behavior, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Elections, Law, Randomisation | 1 Comment

Wryside on Coin-Tossing

Posted on September 3, 2009 by andrewleigh

My Wryside Economics talk on Life Matters this morning is about randomised trials. Here’s a recent paper on the topic that caught my eye (to get the full thing, click on the title). Cairo Evaluation Clinic: Thoughts on Randomized Trials … Continue reading →

Posted in Coming Events, Randomisation | 1 Comment

Perry Goes to Dublin

Posted on August 21, 2009 by andrewleigh

On the topic of randomised social policy trials, UCD Dublin’s Professor Colm Harmon draws my attention to a symposium on evidence-based policy in Ireland (proceedings here), and a new randomised trial of early childhood intervention that’s now afoot. Details over … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, Randomisation | Comments Off on Perry Goes to Dublin

More Random Musings

Posted on August 18, 2009 by andrewleigh

I’m attending a Productivity Commission roundtable in Canberra today on the topic ‘Strengthening Evidence-Based Policy in the Australian Federation’. In an attempt to provoke, my paper is titled Evidence-Based Policy: Summon the Randomistas?. Full text here. I’ll have a month … Continue reading →

Posted in Randomisation | 6 Comments

A Professor Like Me

Posted on May 28, 2009 by andrewleigh

A new study provides some useful analysis of the effects of academics’ gender on university outcomes. The authors cleverly take advantage of the fact that the US Air Force Academy randomly assigns students to sections, with little opportunity to switch. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, Randomisation | 4 Comments

Random Links

Posted on April 27, 2009 by andrewleigh

Several interesting studies/papers on randomised trials have come out lately. If time permits, I may come back to comment on them, but for now, I’ll just post the links for those who are interested in the topic: Critiques of randomised … Continue reading →

Posted in Randomisation | 2 Comments

An Evidence Hierarchy for Social Policymakers

Posted on March 9, 2009 by andrewleigh

The Economic Roundup, Treasury’s in-house journal, has just released its first issue for 2009. Evidence is a bit of a theme for the issue, and among the articles, I have one that discusses the idea of a medical-style ‘evidence hierarchy’ for social policymakers.* … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics Generally, Randomisation | 14 Comments

New Techniques in Development Economics

Posted on June 19, 2008 by andrewleigh

I’m co-organising a conference today and tomorrow on “New Techniques in Development Economics” (program and location details here), including some of my favourite development economists from outside Australia (including but not limited to Chris Blattman, Leigh Linden, Seema Jayachandran, Dean Karlan, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Randomisation, Trade & Development | Comments Off on New Techniques in Development Economics

New Techniques in Development Economics Conference

Posted on May 5, 2008 by andrewleigh

With my colleagues Chikako Yamauchi and Xin Meng, and thanks to the generous support of AusAID, I’m co-organising an ANU conference on New Techniques in Development Economics on 19-20 June. We have a bevvy of international speakers, and the discussion should … Continue reading →

Posted in Randomisation, Trade & Development | 1 Comment

Luck of the Law

Posted on November 28, 2007 by andrewleigh

Applying new economics techniques to questions that the legal profession has been investigating for some time, Chicago law professor David Abrams has two clever papers that exploit the random assignment of judges to defendants, and lawyers to clients. Abstracts over … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Randomisation | 6 Comments

Good news, you're in the control group

Posted on November 18, 2007 by andrewleigh

I like to think I’m as much a fan of randomised trials as anyone. But I’m not sure that even I would go so far as suggesting randomisation when it comes to working out the deterrent effects of the death … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Randomisation | 9 Comments