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Policy Research
The role of social and policy learning in changing forest governance: An examination of community based forestry initiatives in the U.S.
Renee O’Connell
May 2015
Community based forestry (CBF) refers to the management of forested landscapes by community residents for environmental, community, and societal benefits. In addition to data collected from over 200 survey responses, researchers used interviews, focus groups, and content analysis of documents from thirteen CBF initiatives in the United States to better understand CBF initiatives, their role in making forest policy, and common outcomes from CBF practices. Researchers found that CBF initiatives typically exhibit social learning, such as systems thinking and collective sense making, as well as policy learning, typically resembling the advocacy coalition framework. CBF tends to follow single-loop policy learning, meaning that current managers in CBF systems focus on whether or not the technique put in use worked and rarely focus on whether or not structural or institutional factors limited capacity to accomplish goals.
Dont Take No For an Answer: An Experiment with Actual Organ Donor Registrations
Judd B. Kessler, Alvin E. Roth
August 2014
This experiment tests whether being presented with an active choice increases organ donor registrations. Rather than simply being provided the option to opt in, a subgroup of people were instead presented with a choice of whether they wanted to register as an organ donor; they were forced to select either “yes” or “no.” Results show that this method provided no statistical difference in terms of organ donor registration rate.
Wearing Body Cameras Increases Assaults against Officers and Does Not Reduce Police Use of Force: Results from a Global Multi site Experiment
Barak Ariel, Alex Sutherland, Darren Henstock, Josh Young, Paul Drover, Jayne Sykes, Simon Megicks, Ryan Henderson
May 2016
This randomized controlled experiment evaluated several effects of police body-worn video cameras. Essentially, the results show that the usage of body-worn cameras has no statistical effect on the police’s use of force. Further, results show that assaults against police officers was higher amongst those with body-worm cameras.
Are the Non monetary Costs of Energy Efficiency Investments Large? Understanding Low Take Up of a Free Energy Efficiency Program
Meredith Fowlie, Michael Greenstone, Catherine Wolfram
May 2015
This randomized experiment looks for an efficient method to increase take-up of energy-efficient “weatherization” retrofitting (which was being offered at no cost). An experimental groups was randomly assigned to be “encouraged” to participate in the program. They were flooded with information, personal benefits, and environmental advantages to the program. Take-up rates in the control group were roughly 1%; in the experimental group they grew to nearly 6%.
A Comparison of the Labor Supply Findings from the Four Negative Income Tax Experiments
Philip K. Robins
March 1985
This randomized experiment tests the effect of negative income tax rates. The focus of the experiment was determining changes in labor supply that were caused by negative income tax rates (which were being considered as an alternative to welfare payments). This study includes four separate experiments that came to similar results. On average, married men reduced working hours by roughly two weeks, women reduced working hours by three weeks, and youth by four weeks.
Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol: Lessons and Results from a 15 community Randomized Trial
Alexander C. Wagenaar, John P. Gehan, Rhonda Jones-Webb, Traci L. Toomey, Jean L. Forster, Mark Wolfson, David M. Murray
August 1999
This randomized trial attempts to evaluate a policy intervention that was designed to alter “alcohol-related behaviors.” Communities were randomly assigned into two groups: a treatment and a control group. The treatment group underwent community-wide interventions in an attempt to reduce underage drinking by targeting the media, police, alcohol sellers, schools, and so on. Results show that the policies significantly changed the behavior of 18-20 year olds, and altered practices of bars and restaurants.
Six year Follow up of the First Waterloo School Smoking Prevention Trial
B R Flay, D Koepke, S J Thomson, S Santi, J A Best, K S Brown
October 1989
Students were randomly assigned to a control group, and a treatment group where they received several sessions of courses designed to educations students to resist social pressures to smoke. At a six-year follow-up, there were no significant differences in smoking rates between the treatment and control groups.
Reducing Childrens Television Viewing to Prevent Obesity
Thomas N. Robinson
August 1999
Nearly 200 third- and fourth-grade students were randomly assigned to two groups: a treatment group who received a long-term (18 lessons over the course of 6-months) curriculum on reducing television watching and video game playing, and a control group who did not. After the period, children in both groups were examined vis-à-vis their health. Children in the treatment group reported significantly less hours spent in front of the television, and had significantly lower BMIs, smaller waist circumferences, and so on.
The Role of Information and Social Interactions in Retirement Plan Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
Esther Duflo, Emmanuel Saez
April 2002
This randomized experiment assesses the impact of additional information on university employee enrollment in retirement savings plans. A randomly chosen set of employees were persuaded (via monetary reward) to attend an informational meeting regarding Tax Deferred Accounts (TDA) for retirement savings. Results show that, first: those who received an offer of monetary reward were three times more likely to attend the informational meeting. Second, in a follow-up months later, those who had attended the fair were significantly more likely to have enrolled in a TDA. Finally, there was also a significant increase in TDA enrollment amongst employees who did not receive the monetary encouragement but who worked in a department where others did, relative to employees who worked in a department where no one received monetary encouragement.
Shaping Citizen Perceptions of Police Legitimacy: A Randomized Field Trial of Procedural Justice
Lorraine Mazerolle, Emma Antrobus, Sarah Bennett, Tom R. Tyler
November 2012
This randomized trial assesses the impact “procedurally just” traffic stops have on perceptions of the police. This study uses data from the Queensland Community trial, which randomly assigned drivers at a drinking-and-driving checkpoint into two groups. The control group received the standard interaction with the police officer, consisting of instructions on how to blow into the breathalyzer, generally only included necessary dialogue, and lasted an average of 20 seconds. Meanwhile, the treatment group’s interactions included police officers explaining the number of deaths associated with traffic accidents, and describing the motive of the police force to reduce this number. Drivers were also asked their opinions on police priorities and policies. Results show that the treatment group had significantly higher views of police legitimacy, fairness, dignity, and respect.