 Putting
the pieces together
Public
policies and programs have ambitious aims: to improve
the quality of life for some segment of society. Equally
as ambitious, perhaps, are the research efforts involved
in assessing whether a program is achieving its intended
objectives. There are multitudes of methods to make
such assessments, from scientifically controlled trials
to purely subjective analysis. Complicating assessment
further, numerous external factors—economic, social,
even natural disasters—may influence, or counteract,
the effects of a given program. Program evaluation can
help us see how these pieces of the puzzle fit together.
Key to evaluating program effectiveness is
to focus on its intended outcomes. What, for example,
is the direct effect of a program on its participants?
What is its benefit to society at large? Whether evaluating
a research program, such as ours at ERS, or a multi-billion
dollar assistance program, a few key questions can start
to discern the program’s effects: Did the program
affect the knowledge, skills, behavior, or well-being
of the people who participated in it? By extension,
did the program have a positive effect on a social priority?
Did it do so in an efficient, well-managed manner?
Economic research and analysis can contribute an important
piece of the puzzle. Recent ERS research on traceability,
for example, helps inform efforts to better understand
and evaluate private and public traceability systems.
The research reveals the elements of efficient traceability
systems for product differentiation, food safety, and
efficient supply management. This information can help
policymakers evaluate proposals for publicly mandated
traceability systems.
Such analyses are not merely of academic interest. In
an era of increasing pressure for fiscal restraint and
competing national priorities, publicly funded programs
face the requirement, indeed the necessity, of demonstrating
that they function effectively and provide benefits
to society. More than 10 years ago, the Government Performance
and Results Act codified into law such a requirement.
Presidential initiatives offered by successive
administrations have also demanded improved program
performance and accountability to taxpayers. Insights
discovered through economic research, therefore, can
help inform evaluations for these and many other efforts
that seek to fit together pieces of a puzzle to understand
the interaction of policies and the food and agriculture
system.
Paul R. Gibson
Assistant Administrator
Economic Research Service |
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