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Evaluating Impact: Measuring a ‘Good Life’, and Making Choices in the Time of Corona
Did it Work…?
I got a report in my inbox a few weeks ago: Has Devolution Worked?
My first thought was, “wow, that doesn’t sound like a question that anyone can answer definitively!”
My second thought (I generally ignore first thoughts) went in the direction of understanding the question ‘did it work?’ What is the measure of success? What is the counter-factual? And why are we asking?
That last point is important because, sure it’s an interesting exploration but knowing whether we’re exploring something for intellectual curiosity, or whether we’re reviewing the structures of government, or whether it’s to support a political point is kinda relevant to how we go about answering.
[I have no real interest in the answer to that question about devolution btw, but rather than leave you hanging, the report was, in fact, pretty interesting. Rather than try to establish and evaluate a single definitive answer, several authors contributed different perspectives , one might say ‘opinions backed by selective evidence’, on whether devolution had contributed to a) improved public trust and legitimacy of government, (mixed responses), b) enhanced growth or redistributed economic effects (a clear no although…
