“Why Governments Should Run Experiments”

About the Talk

Every day, governments make decisions that affect communities, services, and public spending. Yet many of these decisions rely on precedent or instinct rather than evidence. Randomised trials offer a practical, powerful alternative—allowing policymakers to test ideas before scaling them, compare real options, and learn from the variation that naturally exists. Drawing on examples from Australia and overseas, this lecture will explore how experimentation has moved from the margins of policymaking into mainstream public administration. It will highlight how the establishment of the Australian Centre for Evaluation represents a shift toward governments becoming learning institutions—more adaptive, transparent, and evidence-informed.

Speaker: Andrew Leigh

Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Arts and Law. Andrew is a past recipient of the Economic Society of Australia's Young Economist Award and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.

His books include Disconnected (2010), Battlers and Billionaires: The Story of Inequality in Australia (2013), The Economics of Just About Everything (2014), The Luck of Politics (2015), Choosing Openness: Why Global Engagement is Best for Australia (2017), Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World (2018), Innovation + Equality: How to Create a Future That Is More Star Trek Than Terminator (with Joshua Gans) (2019), Reconnected: A Community Builder's Handbook (with Nick Terrell) (2020), What's the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics (2021), Fair Game: Lessons from Sport for a Fairer Society and a Stronger Economy (2022) and The Shortest History of Economics (2024).

Andrew is a keen Ironman triathlete and marathon runner, and hosts a podcast called The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation, about living a happier, healthier and more ethical life. Andrew is the father of three sons - Sebastian, Theodore and Zachary, and lives with his wife Gweneth in Canberra. He has been a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1991

We hope you can join us for what promises to be an insightful and engaging session on the future of evidence‑based public policy.

Also check out other Sports events in Hall, Nonprofit events in Hall.