Policy Experiments and Democracy: What Citizens and Politicians Actually Think - with Dr. Robert Dur

In this episode of Business Talk, Professor Dr. Robert Dur of Erasmus University Rotterdam discussed his research on policy experimentation and public attitudes toward randomized controlled trials in government policy. Drawing on survey evidence from the Dutch LISP panel and replications in Finland, France, Poland, Ireland, Romania, the United States, and Australia, he showed that voters are generally supportive of well-explained policy experiments, especially when they hold neutral views on the underlying policies. The conversation highlighted how citizens weigh ethical concerns, such as inequality between treatment and control groups and questions of informed consent, against the long-term benefits of evidence-based policymaking, and how politicians often misread this public openness to experimentation. Dr. Dur also outlined promising avenues for future research, including extending voter-attitude studies to under-studied regions (such as parts of Africa) and examining the acceptability of experimentation in business and human resource management contexts. This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. Disclaimer: 1. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music. 2. Dr. Robert Dur shared key insights from his research, “Who’s Afraid of Policy Experiments?”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.