When is a policy past its use-by date? Differential superannuation payment rates: a case for ongoing monitoring of long-term policies

Abstract

In 2011 the prime minister’s science advisor, Sir Peter Gluckman, drew attention to the need for clear monitoring and evaluation of key policies and programmes in New Zealand, stating: ‘The importance of well evaluated interventions both at the pilot stage and after scale-up is critical, as the costs and implications of inferior science or wrong data leading to policy decisions are immense’, and that ‘excellent social science, if done well, can be immensely valuable. That said, this is an area more than any other where inept science or a scientific vacuum can lead to policy decisions based on dogma and ideology rather than on the knowledge needed to lead to better outcomes’.