A key challenge facing social scientists involved in programme evaluation is to understand how findings from empirical policy evaluation studies can be used to provide information about the potential effects of other interventions, in different contexts and on different groups. This research project aims to develop the tools to go beyond the narrow lessons learned from single evaluation studies and synthesise the lessons learned from a range of evaluations into a better understanding of social and economic behaviour. In this project we develop models of dynamic socio-economic behaviour consistent with the findings from empirical evaluation studies. These models will in turn lead to an ability to evaluate ex ante the effects of proposed policies and to design better both future policies and future evaluations of those policies.

Research Questions

• How can we best use ex post evaluations in ex ante analysis?
• How do life-cycle time limits on welfare receipt affect behaviour?
• How are education decisions affected by labour market policies?