Innovation by elimination: A proposal for negative policy experiments in the public sector
Jason Potts
ARC Center of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI), Queensland University of Technology; School of Economics, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD
PP: 238 - 248
Abstract
A new approach to public sector innovation is proposed here that amounts to 'innovation by doing less' or innovation by experimental elimination. This approach seeks a systematic and rigorous methodology, drawing upon the literature of policy experiments and evidence-based policy, to develop ways of reducing government or public services under experimental conditions.
This model reverses the normal experimental and control groupings, where the experimental group consists of a negative policy or strategic elimination and the control group is the regular public sector service. This is proposed as an experimental methodology to procedurally down-size or slow the growth of the public sector in a scientifically robust manner that is, in effect, public sector innovation in reverse.
Keywords
experiments; public sector innovation; growth of government
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