On of the key goals of politicians is to avoid blame. If you would create policy is upfront criteria of how to measure how effective the policy is that opens up room for the policy maker to be blamed.
It would be great to have more information about which policies work but the key problem is to think through the incentives of how you could create a system where that works.
Interesting point about blame—but of course they also want credit … Impact assessments carry risk for the reason you give, but also possibility of credit.
In my personal conversation, it seemed that avoiding blame is a stronger force than seeking credit. Yes, Minister which was based on a lot of conversation with insiders also suggests that back then in the UK avoiding blame was much more central than seeking credit.
On of the key goals of politicians is to avoid blame. If you would create policy is upfront criteria of how to measure how effective the policy is that opens up room for the policy maker to be blamed.
It would be great to have more information about which policies work but the key problem is to think through the incentives of how you could create a system where that works.
Interesting point about blame—but of course they also want credit … Impact assessments carry risk for the reason you give, but also possibility of credit.
In my personal conversation, it seemed that avoiding blame is a stronger force than seeking credit. Yes, Minister which was based on a lot of conversation with insiders also suggests that back then in the UK avoiding blame was much more central than seeking credit.
This seems consistent with Zvi’s concept of Asymmetric Justice.