The E-word – On the public acceptance of experiments

Mira Fischer, Elisabeth Grewenig, Philipp Lergetporer, Katharina Werner and Helen Zeidler

EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, 2024, vol. 235, No 111558, 3 pages

Abstract: Randomized experiments are often viewed as the “gold standard” of scientific evidence, but people's skepticism towards experiments has compromised their viability in the past. We study preferences for experimental policy evaluations in a representative survey in Germany (N > 1,900). We find that a majority of 75 % supports the idea of small-scale evaluations of policies before enacting them at a large scale. Experimentally varying whether the evaluations are explicitly described as “experiments” has a precisely estimated overall zero effect on public support. Our results indicate political leeway for experimental policy evaluation, a practice that is still uncommon in Germany.

JEL-codes: C93 H40 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:espost:323980

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111558

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