Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Special Events: Lunch Symposium: Using Experiments for Evidence-Based Policy: Lessons from the Private Sector

Keynote Speaker: Jim Manzi - Applied Predictive Technologies Speakers: Jon Baron - Laura and John Arnold Foundation; and Rebecca Maynard - Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania A little known fact among social scientists is that many of the nation’s major corporations, including Bank One, Google, Victoria’s Secret, Subway, Macy’s, and many others, use random-assignment designs to test new products, employee training programs, customer reactions to advertising, store placement of products, and a host of other issues that impact their bottom line. Jim Manzi, whose company has helped over 150 businesses conduct these evaluations, will describe how his company employs randomized controlled trials to help company’s improve their bottom line and the implications of his experience in the private sector for creating evidence-based social programs. Lunch will be provided for all attendees.