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2017 KLEIN LECTURE: THE SCIENCE OF USING SCIENCE: TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE THREATS TO SCALABILITY |
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| Authors: | Omar Al-Ubaydli John A List Dana Suskind |
| Institution: | 1. Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
Department of Economics and the Mercatus Center, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA Business School, King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;2. Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA;3. Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA We wish to thank Masaki Aoyagi, Nava Ashraf, Marianne Bertrand, Emir Kamenica, Dean Karlan, Haruka Uchida and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. |
| Abstract: | Policymakers are increasingly facing the challenge of scaling empirical insights. This study provides a theoretical lens into the science of how to use science. Through a simple model, we highlight three elements of the scale-up problem: (1) when does evidence become actionable; (2) properties of the population; and (3) properties of the situation. Until these three areas are fully understood, the threats to scalability will render any scaling exercise as particularly vulnerable. Accordingly, our work represents a call for more policy-based evidence, whereby the nature and extent of the various threats to scalability are explored in the original research program. |
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