Assessing an experimental approach to industrial policy evaluation: Applying RCT+ to the case of Creative Credits

Hasan Bakhshi, John S. Edwards, Stephen Roper, Judy Scully, Duncan Shaw, Lorraine Morley and Nicola Rathbone

Research Policy, 2015, vol. 44, issue 8, 1462-1472

Abstract: Experimental methods of policy evaluation are well-established in social policy and development economics but are rare in industrial and innovation policy. In this paper, we consider the arguments for applying experimental methods to industrial policy measures, and propose an experimental policy evaluation approach (which we call RCT+). This approach combines the randomised assignment of firms to treatment and control groups with a longitudinal data collection strategy incorporating quantitative and qualitative data (so-called mixed methods). The RCT+ approach is designed to provide a causative rather than purely summative evaluation, i.e. to assess both ‘whether’ and ‘how’ programme outcomes are achieved. In this paper, we assess the RCT+ approach through an evaluation of Creative Credits – a UK business-to-business innovation voucher initiative intended to promote new innovation partnerships between SMEs and creative service providers. The results suggest the potential value of the RCT+ approach to industrial policy evaluation, and the benefits of mixed methods and longitudinal data collection.

Keywords: Evaluation; Experimental; Industrial policy; Innovation; Creative; Qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733315000645
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:44:y:2015:i:8:p:1462-1472

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2015.04.004

Access Statistics for this article

Research Policy is currently edited by M. Bell, B. Martin, W.E. Steinmueller, A. Arora, M. Callon, M. Kenney, S. Kuhlmann, Keun Lee and F. Murray

More articles in Research Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().