Video: Institutions and Governance

with Sebastian Galiani

Originally posted on November 23, 2017

Sebastian Galiani, an academic at the University of Maryland and also the Deputy Minister at the Argentinian Treasury talks about how research informs his policy-making.

He notes that, while his own policy recommendations are founded in the best theory and empirical evidence he can find, when he's facing the public or politicians, he will try to communicate his ideas and suggestions in the way he thinks will make it most likely for that policy to be enacted.

This is a topic I often hear around the lunch table at the CDE. So many times, people know what they should do, but it's just not politically feasible to get it done. That difficulty makes it necessary to think creatively about the arguments the involved parties would be willing to listen to, even if your own motivation for making the recommendation (hopefully, because "this is what the best research recommends") is different from the pitch you're making.