ArmInfo. The Central Bank of Armenia, together with the Government and other partners, is embarking on the creation of an "Evidence-to-Policy Lab." Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Martin Galstyan announced this on September 22 during a seminar entitled "From Evidence to Policy: Building a Culture of Experimentation."
He explained that the laboratory would provide government institutions with a platform for interaction with researchers from the initial stage of policy development. "The laboratory will help decision-makers address questions of primary importance: What problems are being addressed? What is the mechanism by which this policy is expected to work? What data are needed? Can the solution be tested before it is scaled up? How should the results obtained influence policy? This is precisely the gap we want to fill. Our main goal is not to create an isolated research unit that produces reports detached from policy itself. On the contrary, we seek to create a working platform where policy, research and data intersect," Galstyan added.
He expressed hope that the project would be launched soon, announcing that discussions had been initiated to move from decision-making to concrete action. In this context, Galstyan noted that a number of decisions still had to be made regarding the format of the work: "But our approach to creating the laboratory is based on the principles we are discussing today—using existing capacity, learning lessons from the first projects, and adjusting the model as experience and data accumulate."
"This initiative will help achieve a broader goal: ensuring that requesting evidence before scaling up a particular policy measure and systematically analyzing the results obtained become integral and mandatory elements of the government decision-making process," the Central Bank governor said confidently.
According to Galstyan, such an approach to developing evidence-based policy will make it possible to devise more well-founded, effective and systematic measures aimed at improving citizens' long-term well-being.
It should be noted that the seminar "From Evidence to Policy: Building a Culture of Experimentation," organized jointly by the Central Bank of Armenia and J-PAL Europe, is being held in Dilijan, a resort town in Armenia, and is attended by Nobel Prize laureate in economics and one of the world's leading economists, Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee. The seminar is dedicated to the development and implementation of policy based on evidence and scientific research. The discussions will also present the experience of Luxembourg, France and Uzbekistan, where evidence-based methods and experimental approaches have been applied in the development and evaluation of public policy. The presentation of international experience will make it possible to examine how similar mechanisms can be applied in Armenia.
