Strategic use of evidence in state-level policymaking: matching evidence type to legislative stage

Although interest in research utilization in the policy process has grown, how advocates strategically deploy different types of evidence to influence lawmakers remains not well understood. In this paper, we draw on the Advocacy Coalition Framework and the Narrative Policy Framework to show how various types of evidence—from empirical findings to personal anecdotes—were utilized by advocates during the 2 years leading to the passage of California’s historic 2010 law to extend foster care. The result was a generous and flexible entitlement policy passed with bipartisan support in the context of a recession, a state budget deficit, and an ambivalent governor. We find that leaders of a diverse advocacy coalition strategically showcased different types of evidence at specific moments in the legislative process. Each evidence type can be tied to a specific narrative element and strategy. Advocates first used research evidence to convince lawmakers of the policy’s effectiveness, then used professional expertise and benefit-cost analysis to convince them it would come at an acceptable cost, and finally used personal narratives to motivate them to act. We conclude that though benefit-cost analyses play an integral role in policymaking during a time of austerity, advocacy coalitions may still benefit from personal stories that lend emotional potency and urgency.     

How Structural Variations in Collaborative Governance Networks Influence Advocacy Involvement and Outcomes

Collaborative governance is intended to solve complex problems and promote democratic outcomes by connecting ground‐level stakeholders with government. In order for these goals to be met, however, participants must have meaningful influence and opportunities for voice. Using national survey data from Continuums of Care (CoCs) mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, this article investigates what structural characteristics of collaborative governance networks are related to promoting stakeholder inclusion and voice through policy advocacy involvement. Specifically, it investigates which network characteristics are associated with (1) the frequency of advocacy involvement by the network, (2) providers' engagement in and influence over that advocacy, and (3) the CoC having stronger relationships with policy makers. Findings show significant relationships between greater network capacity and network advocacy, and between network governance structure and provider engagement and influence in that advocacy. Networks have stronger relationships with policy makers when providers are more engaged, providers have more influence, network capacity is higher, and direct advocacy tactics are used.     

Bones, blood, pellets, glass, and no body.

A man was found guilty of killing his wife, although her body was never found. The case centered on her car, which contained fragments of bone, glass, shotgun pellets, and dried blood. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fingerprinting techniques were used to establish the decedent's identity. Examination of the bone fragments revealed that they were from the skull. These two pieces of information, added to other evidence, proved that the defendant's wife had received a fatal injury in her car, and a guilty verdict was rendered.     

Can crop insurance work? The case of India

This article assesses the performance of the Indian Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme from 1985 to 1993 in relation to a recent critical literature which argues that comprehensive agricultural insurance is subject to insuperable moral‐hazard obstacles. The Indian scheme has made heavy financial losses; on the benefit side, sample data from Andhra Pradesh suggest that some farmers have converted to yield‐raising techniques as a result of the presence of the insurance scheme, but that the scheme has not brought about any improvement in loan repayment performance, even though that was the scheme's explicit objective. We conclude that, to work properly, the scheme requires an increase in premiums and a reduction in the range of risks covered. A possible alternative design, in which individual farmers are insured directly against drought rather than against a shortfall in yields, is sketched out.     

Microfinance and Poverty in Bolivia

Both in its institutional range and in its penetration of financial markets, the microfinance sector in Bolivia rivals any in the world, and has played a major part in extracting the macro-economy from meltdown since the mid-1980s. We seek specifically to assess its impact on poverty, and do this through small-sample surveys on four microfinance institutions, two urban and two rural, using a range of poverty concepts: income (generated both through the borrower's enterprise and through the labour market), asset holdings and diversity, and various measures of vulnerability. All the institutions studied had, on balance, positive impacts on income and asset levels, with income impacts correlating negatively with income on account of poor households choosing to invest in low-risk, low-return assets. Microfinance may, however, augment vulnerability: average debt-service ratios of microfinance clients are disturbingly high, and if the coping mechanisms used by borrowers fail, borrowers may be forced out of the microfinance system, possibly resulting in decapitalisation and impoverishment. Poorer households are more restricted in their choice of coping strategy, and many as a consequence 'choose' coping strategies more likely to jeopardise their long-term income prospects, in particular asset sales and cuts in children's schooling. The more successful low-income borrowers are those who have voluntary savings deposits and do not rush into fixed capital purchases too early: collapse back into poverty is associated with multiple crises and the failure of one or more 'safety nets', in particular of one or more 'safety nets', in particular support from a member's solidarity group. The following actions appear to be promising for the further reduction of poverty in Bolivia: stronger efforts to mobilise rural savings, removal of lower limits on loan size, and the introduction of appropriate insurance mechanisms. In comparison with other anti-poverty measures, microfinance appears to be successful and relative cheap at reducing the poverty of those close to the poverty line, but ineffective, by comparison with labour-market and infrastructural measures, in reducing extreme poverty.     

Aid for the poorest: Some early lessons of UK experience

The paper presents an interim review of recent attempts to reach the poorest people in developing countries through aid policy from the viewpoint of one donor, the United Kingdom. It concludes that the UK has achieved a modest increase in the proportion of aid aimed at the poorest between 1974 and 1979; that poverty‐focused projects are in general more local‐cost intensive, and have lower rates of return, than others; and that the principal difficulties in the way of successful implementation of poverty‐focused projects are: excessive size, an over‐rapid rate of disbursement, inadequate local cost provisions and failure to specify the target group or the repayment strategy with sufficient precision. It is argued that there are political obstacles to removing the second and third of these obstacles in donor countries, and to removing the fourth in recipient countries also.