Data and Code for: How Research Affects Policy: Experimental Evidence from 2,150 Brazilian Municipalities

Can research findings change political leaders' beliefs and cause policy change? Collaborating with the National Confederation of Municipalities in Brazil, we work with 2,150 municipalities and their mayors. We use experiments to measure mayors' demand for research information and their response to learning research findings. In one experiment, we find that mayors and other municipal officials are  willing to pay to learn the results of impact evaluations, and update their beliefs when informed of the findings. They value larger-sample studies more, while not distinguishing on average between studies conducted in rich and poor countries. In a second experiment, we find that informing mayors about research on a simple and effective policy (reminder letters for taxpayers) increases the probability that their municipality implements the policy by 10 percentage points. In sum, we provide direct evidence that policy-makers value research information, change their beliefs when presented with it, and that this can drive policy change. Information frictions may thus help explain  failures to adopt effective policies.

本研究旨在探究研究发现的发布是否能够改变政治领导者的信念并引发政策变革。本团队与巴西全国市政联合会合作，对2,150个市政及其市长进行研究。通过实验方法，我们衡量了市长们对研究信息的需求及其对学习研究发现的反应。在一项实验中，我们发现市长及其他市政官员愿意付费以获取影响评估的结果，并在得知研究结果后更新其信念。他们对大规模样本研究更为重视，而在平均意义上并不区分在富裕国家和贫困国家进行的研究。在另一项实验中，我们发现向市长们介绍关于简单有效的政策（如提醒纳税人信件）的研究，将使其市政实施该政策的可能性提高10个百分点。总之，我们提供了直接证据，表明政策制定者重视研究信息，在接触信息时改变其信念，并且这可以推动政策变革。因此，信息摩擦或许能够帮助解释为何难以采纳有效的政策。