Does this work here? Evaluation and evidence for local industrial strategy and policy

The successful implementation of industrial strategies relies on high-quality evidence of interventions that work. Yet, there is a lack of such evidence, particularly for local and regional economic policy. While policymakers at all levels of government express a strong desire for better evidence, limited research has addressed the question of why more resources are not devoted to producing better evidence. This article identifies barriers to more and better evaluation of industrial and economic policy more generally. This is a pertinent question in the UK context as a new industrial strategy is launched, while local government is undergoing a reorganisation with new powers for economic policy being devolved. The article makes two contributions. First, it argues that evaluation and evidence should be treated as a public good that will be underprovided without deliberate investment. Second, the lack of a strong ecosystem for evaluation at the local level is identified, which could act as a flexible resource to improve evaluation capacity and capability and support the use of existing evidence. Implications for the design of incentives and institutions for evaluation are considered.