Policy Evaluation Research Articles

Short-time work, labor hoarding, and curtailed hiring: establishment-level evidence from Japan

This study analyzes the mechanisms by which short-time work (STW) schemes affect firm’s employment adjustments, using establishment-level data during the Great Recession from Japan. The findings show that STW leads to a decrease in both hiring and separations, with no significant positive effect on net employment. The observed curtailed hiring can be explained within the context of how STW promotes labor hoarding. STW encourages firms to maintain redundant employment by subsidizing the costs of labor hoarding. The excess labor surplus in firms adopting STW diminishes the incentive to recruit new workers in anticipation of the recovery period. Furthermore, as firms generally lack the motivation to hoard marginal workers, STW may exacerbate job security disparities between regular and marginal workers. These findings have important implications for policy evaluation, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of the potential adverse consequences of STW on labor market entrants and marginal workers.

Implementation of Minister of Home Regulation Number 17 2016 At The Development Planning, Research and Agency Wajo District Regional Development

As part of implementing regional government research and development policies, it can carry out its duties and functions relating to; research, development, study, engineering, implementation, operation and evaluation of policies, hereinafter referred to as main research and development, are scientific activities aimed at generating new understanding/methods and/or developing their practical application in the context of science and technology within the scope of domestic governance. This study aims to determine the implementation of the policy of the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 17 of 2016 and to find out the supporting and inhibiting factors encountered in the implementation of the policy of the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 17 of 2016 at the Wajo Regency Regional Development Planning, Research and Development Agency, using the type of descriptive research with a qualitative approach. The results of this study indicate that, the implementation of the policy of the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 17 of 2016, seen from the aspect of content and context shows an improvement in governance according to the analysis of regional research and development in carrying out regional development planning programs, by looking at an interest, the benefits of the policy making changes by involving responsive resources and strategies by implementing actors to apply the policy, this shows that the basic reference for this regulation can be carried out properly.

PollinERA: Understanding pesticide-Pollinator interactions to support EU Environmental Risk Assessment and policy

PollinERA aims to reverse pollinator population declines and reduce the harmful impacts of pesticides. It addresses the call through four objectives: SO1 filling ecotoxicological data gaps to enable realistic prediction of the source and routes of exposure and impact of pesticides on pollinators and their sensitivity to individual pesticides and mixtures. SO2 developing and testing a co-monitoring scheme for pesticides and pollinators across European cropping systems and landscapes, developing risk indicators and mixture exposure information. SO3 developing models for predicting pesticide toxicological effects on pollinators for chemicals and organisms, environmental fate, toxicokinetic/ toxicodynamic, and population models. SO4 developing a population-level systems-based approach to risk and policy assessment considering multiple stressors and long-term spatiotemporal dynamics at the landscape scale and generating an open database for pollinator/pesticide data and tools. This will be achieved through developing knowledge and protocols for a broad range of toxicological testing, feeding to in silico models (QSARS, toxicokinetic/toxicodynamic, and population). Using a strong stakeholder co-development approach, these models will be combined in a One System framework taking a systems view on risk assessment and policy evaluation, including an international monitoring program. The One System framework is based on EFSA’s system ERA view, expanding on the tools used for bees to include butterflies, moths and hoverflies. The consortium partners are experts in the field needed for this development and are well-placed to facilitate the uptake of tools by European bodies to guarantee the project's future impact. Expected impacts target Destination impacts of better understanding and addressing drivers of biodiversity decline, interconnected biodiversity research using digital technologies, and understanding the biodiversity and health nexus at the ecosystem level.

Quantitative evaluation of the medicine innovation policy in China: based on the PMC-Index model.

Medicine innovation is crucial in promoting the sustainable development of medicine undertakings, which has significant economic and social benefits. China is the main force in global medicine consumption, with a huge demand for innovative medicines. Thus, the Chinese government releases a series of policies aimed at providing scientific and reasonable guidance for medicine innovation. However, there is inadequate quantitative evaluation and comparison of various medicine innovation policies in the existing studies. This paper adopts the approach of text mining and the Policy Modeling Consistency Index (PMC-Index) model to construct an evaluation system and then quantitatively evaluates and compares the traditional Chinese medicine innovation policies (TCMIPs), the biological medicine innovation policies (BMIPs), and the multiple medicine innovation policies (MMIPs) in China. The results indicate that: (1) The three types of drug innovation policies have similarities in content and goal through comparative analysis of high-frequency words, while they also have their own characteristics. (2) The average PMC-Index of 29 TCMIPs is 5.77, which has the highest policy bad rate (21%); the average PMC-Index of 12 BMIPs is 6.21, which has the highest policy good rate (92%); moreover, the average PMC-Index of 35 MMIPs is 6.06, which has the highest policy excellence rate (26%). (3) The BMIPs, MMIPs, and TCMIPs have similar scores on policy object, policy orientation, policy timeliness, policy evaluation, and policy accessibility, while they differ significantly mainly on policy nature, incentive method, policy function, policy issuing agency, and policy instrument. This study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of medicine innovation policies in China, in order to provide theoretical support for future policy formulation and optimization in the medicine industry. Moreover, we expand the application scenarios of policy diffusion theory.

Assessment of the policy enabling environment for large-scale food fortification: A novel framework with an application to Kenya.

Large-scale food fortification (LSFF) programs have potential to improve a population's nutritional status. Though their success depends heavily on the prevailing policy environment, few tools exist to understand this environment. To address this gap, we develop a novel framework to define and assess the policy enabling environment for LSFF. This easy-to-apply framework can be used in any setting to track progress and identify next steps for continued improvements. The policy enabling environment is conceptualized as having three domains-policy agenda setting, policy implementation, and policy monitoring and evaluation-each of which is captured through indicators that can be evaluated using existing documentation, key informant interviews, and/or a survey of stakeholder perceptions. To validate the framework and demonstrate how it can be operationalized, we apply it in Kenya, where a mandatory LSFF program for salt has been in place since 1978, and a program for packaged maize and wheat flours and vegetable oils was introduced in 2012. Per our assessment, Kenya has achieved the greatest success within the domain of policy agenda setting, has realized moderate success in policy implementation, and has a weaker record in policy monitoring and evaluation. The positive trajectory for many indicators points to a promising future for Kenya's LSFF program. This assessment yields policy implications for Kenya to improve its policy environment for LSFF, especially around financial sustainability of the program; ways to improve the processes for surveillance and enforcement; efforts to support fortification among medium-and small-scale millers; and a need to improve the data landscape.

State-Building through Public Land Disposal? An Application of Matrix Completion for Counterfactual Prediction

This article examines how homestead policies, which opened vast frontier lands for settlement, influenced the development of American frontier states. It uses a treatment propensity-weighted matrix completion model to estimate the counterfactual size of these states without homesteading. In simulation studies, the method shows lower bias and variance than other estimators, particularly in higher complexity scenarios. The empirical analysis reveals that homestead policies significantly and persistently reduced state government expenditure and revenue. These findings align with continuous difference-in-differences estimates using 1.46 million land patent records. This study’s extension of the matrix completion method to include propensity score weighting for causal effect estimation in panel data, especially in staggered treatment contexts, enhances policy evaluation by improving the precision of long-term policy impact assessments.

Policy Assessment for Energy Transition to Zero- and Low-Emission Technologies in Pickup Trucks: Evidence from Mexico

The transport sector is under scrutiny because of its significant greenhouse gas emissions. Essential strategies, particularly the adoption of zero- and low-emission vehicles powered by electricity, are crucial for mitigating emissions in road transport. Pickups, which are integral to Mexico’s fleet, contribute to such emissions. Thus, implementing effective policies targeting pickups is vital for reducing air pollution and aligning with Mexico’s decarbonization objectives. This paper presents a simulation model based on system dynamics to represent the adoption process of zero- and low-emission vehicles, with a focus on pickups and utilizing data from the Mexican case. Three policy evaluation scenarios are proposed based on the simulation model: business as usual; disincentives for zero- and low-emission vehicles; and incentives for unconventional vehicles. One of the most significant findings from this study is that even in a scenario with a greater number of vehicles in circulation, if the technology is fully electric, the environmental impact in terms of emissions is lower. Additionally, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis spanning a wide spectrum is undertaken through an extensive computational process, yielding multiple policy scenarios. The analysis indicates that to achieve a maximal reduction in the country’s emissions, promoting solely hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is advisable, whereas internal combustion engines, vehicular natural gas, and battery electric vehicles should be discouraged.

Towards efficient RAN slicing: A deep hierarchical reinforcement learning approach

Radio access network (RAN) slicing can significantly improve network flexibility and resource utilization efficiency. Generally, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is a prevailing approach to implementing practicable resource management in RAN slicing. However, this demand-aware resource allocation suffers from long training time and slow execution efficiency. This can lead to the inability to quickly achieve the desired spectral efficiency and service level agreement satisfaction rate. To tackle this issue, we propose a novel RAN slicing resource allocation framework based on a deep hierarchical RL framework for efficient resource scheduling. Structurally, our framework consists of a policy selection network and a policy evaluation network. In particular, a newly built action acceleration unit can achieve quick reward accumulation, thus speeding up the optimal policy search. Extensive simulations show that our proposal has higher system utility and faster convergence compared to the state-of-the-art DRL algorithms.

Towards sustainable prosperity? Policy evaluation of Jiangsu advanced manufacturing clusters

The government of China, to hone manufacturing's competitive edge, has adopted a series of regional industrial policies to stimulate advanced manufacturing clusters as facilitators of agglomeration effects, utilisers of factor endowments, and implementers of innovation solutions, by playing the role of facilitating state. Focusing on advanced manufacturing cluster policies in East China's Jiangsu Province, the research employs a mixed data analysis methodology on a sample of 52 documents collected from the Jiangsu government and affiliated units. The policy orientations and priorities are examined under the triple analytical framework in terms of themes, instruments, and controls, applying textual mining and the PMC index model. The results reveal the alignment of policy themes with high-quality development strategy, the government preferences for the supply dimension in policy instruments, the emphasis on planning directive in policy controls, together with the relatively high internal consistency of the AMC policy toolkit by Jiangsu. Therefore, the research spotlights the importance of leveraging comparative strengths based upon the facilitating state institution, and of deploying internally coherent, scientific, and efficient initiatives that exploit more potential of advanced manufacturing clusters to foster sustainable prosperity from the perspective of New Structural Economics.

Dynamics of measles immunity from birth and following vaccination.

Measles remains a major threat to human health despite widespread vaccination. While we know that maternal antibodies can impair vaccine-induced immunity, the relative contributions of pre-existing immunity levels, maternal and infant characteristics on vaccine responses remain unclear, hampering evidence-based vaccination policy development. Here we combine serological data from 1,505 individuals (aged 0-12 years) in a mother-infant cohort and in a child cohort with empirical models to reconstruct antibody trajectories from birth. We show that while highly heterogeneous across a population, measles antibody evolution is strongly predictive from birth at the individual level, including following vaccination. Further, we find that caesarean section births were linked with 2.56 (95% confidence interval: 1.06-6.37) increased odds of primary vaccine failure, highlighting the long-term immunological consequences of birth route. Finally, we use our new understanding of antibody evolution to critically assess the population-level consequences of different vaccination schedules, the results of which will allow country-level evaluations of vaccine policy.

Developing national cancer survivorship standards to inform quality of care in the United States using a consensus approach

PurposeTo develop United States (US) standards for survivorship care that informs (1) essential health system policy and process components and (2) evaluation of the quality of survivorship care.MethodsThe National Cancer Institute and the Department of Veterans Affairs led a review to identify indicators of quality cancer survivorship care in the domains of health system policy, process, and evaluation/assessment. A series of three virtual consensus meetings with survivorship care and research experts and advocates was conducted to rate the importance of the indicators and refine the top indicators. The final set of standards was developed, including ten indicators in each domain.ResultsPrioritized items were survivor-focused, including processes to both assess and manage physical, psychological, and social issues, and evaluation of patient outcomes and experiences. Specific indicators focused on developing a business model for sustaining survivorship care and collecting relevant business metrics (e.g., healthcare utilization, downstream revenue) to show value of survivorship care to health systems.ConclusionsThe National Standards for Cancer Survivorship Care can be used by health systems to guide development of new survivorship care programs or services or to assess alignment and enhance services in existing survivorship programs. Given the variety of settings providing care to survivors, it is necessary for health systems to adapt these standards based on factors including age-specific needs, cancer types, treatments received, and health system resources.Implications for Cancer SurvivorsWith over 18 million cancer survivors in the United States, many of whom experience varied symptoms and unmet needs, it is essential for health systems to have a comprehensive strategy to provide ongoing care. The US National Standards for Survivorship Care should serve as a blueprint for what survivors and their families can anticipate after a cancer diagnosis to address their needs.

An assessment of federal alcohol policies in Canada and priority recommendations: Results from the 3rd Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation Project

ObjectiveTo systematically assess the Canadian federal government’s current alcohol policies in relation to public health best practices.MethodsThe 2022 Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) Project assessed federal alcohol policies across 10 domains. Policy domains were weighted according to evidence for their relative impact, including effectiveness and scope. A detailed scoring rubric of best practices was developed and externally reviewed by international experts. Policy data were collected between June and December 2022, using official legislation, government websites, and data sources identified from previous iterations of CAPE as sources. Contacts within relevant government departments provided any additional data sources, reviewed the accuracy and completeness of the data, and provided amendments as needed. Data were scored independently by members of the research team. Final policy scores were tabulated and presented as a weighted overall average score and as unweighted domain-specific scores.ResultsCompared to public health best practices, the federal government of Canada scored 37% overall. The three most impactful domains—(1) pricing and taxation, (2) marketing and advertising controls, and (3) impaired driving countermeasures—received some of the lowest scores (39%, 10%, and 40%, respectively). Domain-specific scores varied considerably from 0% for minimum legal age policies to 100% for controls on physical availability of alcohol.ConclusionMany evidence-informed alcohol policies have not been adopted, or been adopted only partially, by the Canadian federal government. Urgent adoption of the recommended policies is needed to prevent and reduce the enormous health, social, and economic costs of alcohol use in Canada.

Research on Sustainable Port: Evaluation of Green Port Policies on China’s Coasts

Increasing port pollution has forced governments to enact policies related to green ports to maintain the sustainability of maritime transportation. In this article, we established a policy evaluation system based on the PMC (policy modeling consistency) index model to evaluate 17 green port-related policies currently enacted on coastal China, providing a new perspective on existing maritime policy evaluations. The results show that the average overall consistency of the policies is 7.16 with “good” performance, and no policy is “low” consistency. While this suggests that the existing policy design is sound, some deficiencies exist, such as insufficient cooperation between governments and insufficient emphasis on incentives. We provide recommendations for improvement based on these deficiencies and analyzed and optimized every policy in detail. Meanwhile, we found that policy texts from southern ports perform better, contrary to the previous view. The discovery could be a good entry point for future research. We also offer some suggestions for the development of green ships in China. The research makes these contributions and may provide some insights for policymakers.

European Citizens’ Evaluation of the Common Agricultural Policy

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is crucial in ensuring food safety and security in Europe. Providing a stable and diverse food supply also supports rural economies and promotes social, environmental and economic sustainability. However, as CAP consumes approximately 30% of the EU budget, debates regarding its pertinence have arisen. This paper aimed to understand European citizens’ perceptions of CAP, its associated benefits and their level of agreement regarding the allocation of the EU budget. Ultimately, the goal was to gain insights into EU citizens’ attitudes and perceptions towards the CAP. Information and data come from the European Survey Eurobarometer. The methods include statistical inferential techniques adjusted to the nature of the variables and goals. The findings confirm that European citizens generally perceive the CAP positively and have positive attitudes about the CAP. While some differences among various social groups may exist, the results did not identify any specific group strongly opposing the CAP. Overall, European citizens hold a favorable attitude towards the CAP, its associated benefits and budget allocation. This paper brings new insights into new European CAP measures and programs to promote food security and the sustainability of agriculture among European countries and citizens. These insights may be useful for public decision-makers to define better policies and measures adjusted to European citizens and to promote food security and sustainability.

Bienestar subjetivo, agenda pública y mejores políticas gubernamentales

This article summarizes and updates information on subjective well-being and its role in the public agenda, design, and evaluation of public policies including its definition, measurement, main findings reported in the literature, and its use in the design-evaluation of public policies and introduction into government agendas. A narrative literature review was conducted, its results show that subjective well-being is a tool used to guide public action in developed countries; however, in Latin America, knowledge about it and its role in government is new and fragmented. In some countries, progress has been made by constant measurement through the national statistical agencies, but its incorporation into government performance is scarce.

Socioeconomic and Cultural Factors and Juvenile Delinquency in Pakistan: A Critical Analysis of Structural Theories

The article is a critical discourse on the immigration of youth crime in Pakistan as understood by structural theories. It leverages a variety of literature and empirical studies tries to show how the meeting of structural inequalities, gender norms, and individual experiences forms the background for the antisocial nature of young people, particularly in Pakistan. The practice framework integrates the strain model, social learning theory, and rational choice theory, among others, to provide the practitioner with a broader perspective of the various things that contribute to delinquency in children. The evaluation of present policies, programs, and interventions is done in a review, which checks whether they are able to address such underlying issues and recommendations on policy reforms are proposed. By emphasizing the community-specific socio-economic and cultural contexts, the work has underlined the need for a responsibility-tailored solution that integrates cultural and socio-economic considerations. The identified research shows that the requirements for community efforts to be made are a partnership among researchers, policymakers and community leaders who organize evidence-based interventions to create a more equal and fair juvenile criminal justice system in Pakistan.

Evaluasi Kebijakan Pelimpahan Kewenangan Bupati dalam Evaluasi APB Desa oleh Camat Agar Sesuai Tujuan Pelimpahan di Kabupaten Nunukan Provinsi Kalimantan Utara

This study aimed to describe and analyze the evaluation of the policy of decentralizing authority from the Regent to the Sub-District Head in Nunukan District regarding the evaluation of Village Budgetary Allocation (APB Desa) based on the Regulation of the Nunukan Regent No. 31 of 2018 concerning Amendments to Nunukan Regent Regulation No. 54 of 2012 regarding the Decentralization of Some Authorities of the Nunukan Regent to Sub-District Heads in Nunukan District. The research employed a qualitative approach with a descriptive method. Data collection procedures included in-depth interviews, observations, document studies, and triangulation. The main informants were policy formulators and implementers, relevant government agencies (SKPD), and village governments as service recipients. The policy evaluation theory utilized six criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, sufficiency, equality, responsiveness, and accuracy. The analysis revealed that the criteria for evaluating the policy of decentralizing authority from the regent to the sub-district head regarding APB Desa evaluation had not been fully implemented optimally, especially in terms of effectiveness and responsiveness. Several issues identified in the implementation of APB Desa evaluation by sub-district heads in Nunukan District included the absence of SOPs for APB Desa evaluation services, the quality and quantity of human resources in the bureaucracy, and limited sub-district budgets. The researchers recommended policymakers to issue regulations in the form of regional head regulations governing the technical guidelines for APB Desa evaluation by sub-district heads and the necessity of drafting SOPs for APB Desa evaluation services by relevant agencies to ensure that sub-districts have the same standards in providing APB Desa evaluation services.

Mapping the European Union’s Renewable Energy Transition Amidst the Russo-Ukrainian War

This research paper delves into the complex interplay between the European Union's (EU) ambitious renewable energy transition and the geopolitical backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Against the backdrop of evolving global energy dynamics and the EU's commitment to sustainability, the study aims to elucidate how the conflict has shaped and influenced the EU's pursuit of renewable energy sources. The Russo-Ukrainian War, marked by geopolitical tensions and energy security concerns, has prompted the EU to reassess its energy landscape. The paper employs a multi-faceted approach, combining geopolitical analysis, policy evaluation, and energy infrastructure mapping to understand how the conflict has impacted the EU's renewable energy strategies. It scrutinises the policy shifts, regulatory frameworks, and investment patterns in the renewable energy sector within the EU member states. Furthermore, the research investigates the role of energy diplomacy and the EU's efforts to diversify its energy sources in response to the geopolitical instability stemming from the conflict. It explores the challenges and opportunities presented by the war, such as the urgency for energy independence and the need for cohesive cross-border collaboration. By employing data-driven analyses and case studies, this paper contributes to the broader discourse on the intersection of geopolitics and renewable energy transitions. It offers insights into the dynamic relationship between regional conflicts and the imperative for sustainable energy practices, providing policymakers, scholars, and industry stakeholders with valuable perspectives on navigating the intricate landscape of renewable energy transitions in the midst of geopolitical uncertainties.

Male nurses' adaptation experiences after turnover to community institutions in Korea: A grounded theory methodology.

We aimed to develop a substantive theory according to the associations between adaptation experience-related factors identified in male nurses after turnover to community institutions. From April through August 2019, data were collected through direct observations and in-depth interviews of 22 male nurse participants who were recruited purposively and analyzed simultaneously with the method proposed by Strauss and Corbin. Furthermore, 29 subcategories were derived from 11 categories, including: (1) leaving the clinical sector and changing jobs, (2) shaking while settling, (3) characteristics of the new job, (4) personal disposition, (5) support system, (6) finding my place, (7) solidifying my place, (8) demonstrating my professional competence, (9) stable settlement in my place, (10) preparing for a better future, and (11) still confused. The core category was identified as "putting down roots in another place for myself." The verification of this theory in this study's results indicates a need for research into the evaluation and development of professional development programs and related policies to provide support to male nurses who are pursuing opportunities in community institutions to maintain their nursing identity and further their efforts for developing a nursing specialty.

Development of regional economic growth in key states in Mexico through filmmaking

Mexico has a rich history in the film industry which traditionally has been financed under the secretariat of culture from the federal and state levels. Throughout the years, there have been several incentives by various local governments to try to regenerate goods and services in this sector through grants, and cultural policies as has happened in other similar developing countries that have begun to see filmmaking as a means of building national identity and economic growth. This study offers a combination of evaluations in order to measure the effect of certain factors within the industry through the use of a linear regression model, annual growth rate estimate, and financial analysis of grants directed towards this industry as an attempt to provide a complete measure for future cultural-economic policy evaluation in these types of creative-cultural industries. Results show that the evaluation of the industry can provide insights into the resilience of these sectors in a geographic state, that the economic-health crisis might offer an opportunity to resurge growth within these creative-cultural industries, and that subsidies and grants do affect its overall growth, and sustainability.