Dear all,

It is a great pleasure for me being here today and being part of the launch of an important journal from Nordic Economic Policy Reviews on Advancing Policy Through Randomised Experiments.

There are many similarities across the Nordic countries, but also—perhaps surprisingly—many important differences.

To learn from how other countries – that are similar but different from our own – design, implement and evaluate reforms is important.

The shared platform for policy-oriented research, implemented in this journal, on behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers and Nordregio is therefore extremely valuable

Modern policymaking and good public administration should be based on reliable knowledge – and if we do not have reliable knowledge, we should develop it.

This goes perhaps without saying – who could disagree with the fact that we should base our policies on knowledge? Not many, at least not in our sensible Nordic political discourse.

How to do this is less straightforward.

Policymaking is about people, and to be effective, public policy must therefore understand the complexities of human nature and the choices that we make.

We do not live in labs and we cannot necessarily be tested in labs

This is why randomised experiments is such an interesting approach and possibility to give us a real understanding of cause and effect, also on a societal level.

That is today’s and Nordic Economic Policy Review’s topic.

It is a highly interesting topic for policymakers, and everyone interested in building better societies. And it is also controversial.

The Norwegian Tax Experiment, that Simen Markussen will present later, has been subject to both political and academic debate in Norway.

I will not present the study, just say this: Labor – and thereby people – is our main scarcity and most valuable asset. It is a great paradox that we have a number of skills shortages in the labor market on the one hand – and to many people outside of labor and education on the other. A hundred thousand under 30 to be exact. So called Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET).

We have to address this. And it is therefore one example of where randomised experiments can be of potentially great value to our society

Taking randomised trials from the laboratory to society meets legal and ethical challenges, practical constraints and sparks legitimate academic debates. And some debates that are not as knowledge-based.

This is why it is important to build competence, structures, and trust over time.

It is also an important reason why the Ministry of Education and Research contributes to the funding of the new advisory unit for randomised trials at Statistics Norway.

We are also working to strengthen the sharing and use of data across the education and research sector, to support better knowledge-based policy development. And we are establishing new registries for children in preschools and schools. Over time, these new data will significantly improve the conditions for generating robust knowledge about the effects of policies targeting children and young people.

To succeed in knowledge‑based policy development, we need:

  • academically independent research;
  • strong and constructive interaction between research and public administration;
  • access to high‑quality data;
  • and political willingness to learn – including when the answers are more uncertain than we might wish.

The Nordic countries are particularly well placed in this regard, with high levels of trust, strong public institutions, and high‑quality administrative register data.

This special issue of the journal is an important contribution in that direction.
As the introduction reminds us: Politics cannot be reduced to research, but policymaking benefits from better knowledge.

Thank you to the Nordic Council of Ministers and Nordregio for organising this event on a topic of great importance and thank you to all the contributors who share their experiences with conducting randomised policy experiments in the Nordic Region.

Thank you!