Experimental Policy Making – Advantages and Challenges
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Professor of Fiscal Governance, Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology
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Tallinna Tehnikaülikooli Ragnar Nurkse innovatsiooni ja valitsemise instituudi avaliku sektori juhtimise ja organisatsiooni kaasprofessor
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Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology; Head of Strategy Development, Tax and Customs Board
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Expert of Foresight Centre
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Researcher, Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology
This article gives an overview of the advantages and challenges of experimental policy making.
Based on an empirical study conducted in Estonia and Finland, it can be claimed that the main benefits of experimental policy making are the following: experiments offer useful information for making wiser decisions, they can improve cooperation between different organizations and facilitate the implementation of reforms. In both Estonia and Finland, the common challenges faced by experimental policy making entail the lack of time, as civil servants are overwhelmed by existing tasks and constant crisis management. While the Estonian public officials are hesitant to undertake large-scale experiments due to the fear of failure and negative media attention, their Finnish counterparts see experimentation as a cautious strategy in policy-making, which helps avoid large-scale failures. The common challenge for experimental policy making in both Estonia and Finland is how to ensure policy learning from experiments, so that they would improve policy design and implementation.