Trade-offs between Epistemic and Moral Values in Evidence-Based Policy

Economics and Philosophy (1):49-78 (2016)
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Abstract

Proponents of evidence-based policy (EBP) call for public policy to be informed by high-quality evidence from randomized controlled trials. This methodological preference aims to promote several epistemic values, e.g. rigor, unbiasedness, precision, and the ability to obtain causal conclusions. I argue that there is a trade-off between these epistemic values and several non-epistemic, moral and political values. This is because the evidence afforded by preferred EBP methods is differentially useful for pursuing different moral and political values. I expand on how this challenges ideals of value-freedom and -neutrality in EBP, and offer suggestions for how EBP methodology might be revised.

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Donal Khosrowi
Universität Hannover

Citations of this work

Evidence-Based Policy: The Tension Between the Epistemic and the Normative.Donal Khosrowi & Julian Reiss - 2019 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 31 (2):179-197.
Political science methodology: A plea for pluralism.Sharon Crasnow - 2019 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 78 (C):40-47.
Evidence of mechanisms in evidence-based policy.Saúl Pérez-González - 2024 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 103 (C):95-104.

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