Random-controlled testing is widely accepted in medicine, and yet voters are not convinced this would be a good approach to testing out government policy before it is implemented.

This paper provides a summary of an online survey experiment that tested the level of support, and factors associated with support, for policy trials, and RCTs in particular. The research found that about half the population supported a trial for a (hypothetical) policy intervention, as opposed to introducing the policy to everyone at once.

The Closing the Gap targets feature heavily in the current policy measurement framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians at both the national and state/territory levels. The aim of this paper is to provide helpful information to consider when assessing alternative frameworks for measuring and targeting success.

This paper argues that Indigenous economic wellbeing can be partly improved by addressing broader macroeconomic factors. However, institutional differences, cultural contexts and other societal factors are probably more important for explaining country-specific differences in observed trends in other measures of wellbeing such as psychological distress, incarceration rates and even suicide.

Abstract Analysis of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Social Survey data on Indigenous labour force status highlights the impact that the recent economic slowdown on Indigenous employment trends. At an aggregate level, the trends in Indigenous employment mirror those of the Australian population as a whole. It is clear that aggregate demand is the...