TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Fischer, Mira
AU  - Grewenig, Elisabeth
AU  - Lergetporer, Philipp
AU  - Werner, Katharina
AU  - Zeidler, Helen
        TI  - The E-Word – On the Public Acceptance of Experiments
        PY  - 2023/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16511
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp16511
        AB  - Randomized experiments are often viewed as the "gold standard" of scientific evidence, but people's scepticism towards experiments has compromised their viability in the past. We study preferences for experimental policy evaluations in a representative survey in Germany (N>1,900). We find that a majority of 75% supports the idea of small-scale evaluations of policies before enacting them at a large scale. Experimentally varying whether the evaluations are explicitly described as "experiments" has a precisely estimated overall zero effect on public support. Our results indicate political leeway for experimental policy evaluation, a practice that is still uncommon in Germany.
        KW  - policy experimentation
KW  - experiment aversion
KW  - education
        ER  -