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The complexity of ecological-economic systems significantly reduces our ability to investigate their behavior and propose policies aimed at various environmental and/or economic objectives. Following recent suggestions for integrating nonlinear dynamic modeling with input-output (IO) modeling, we develop a fully dynamic ecological-economic model by integrating IO with system dynamics (SD) for better capturing critical attributes of ecological-economic systems. We also develop and evaluate various scenarios using policy impact and policy sensitivity analyses. The model and analysis are applied to the degradation of fish nursery habitats by industrial harbors in the Seine estuary (Haute-Normandie region, France). The modeling technique, dynamization, and scenarios allow us to show trade-offs between economic and ecological outcomes and evaluate the impacts of restoration scenarios and water quality improvement on the fish population.

This IEG evaluation, requested by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors, represents the first independent evaluation of the PSIA experience. The evaluation finds that:. • The PSIA approach has appropriately emphasized the importance of assessing the distributional impact of policy actions, understanding institutional and political constraints to development, and building domestic ownership for reforms. • PSIAs have not always explicitly stated their operational objectives (i.e., informing country policies, informing Bank operations, and/or contributing to country capacity). • PSIAs have had limited ownership by Bank staff and managers and have often not been effectively integrated into country assistance programs. • Quality assurance and Monitoring and Evaluation of the overall effectiveness of PSIAs have been weak. The evaluation recommends that the World Bank:. • Ensure that Bank staff understand what the PSIA approach is and when to use it. • Clarify the operational objectives of each PSIA and tailor the approach and timeline to those objectives. • Improve integration of the PSIA into the Bank’s country assistance program by requiring that all earmarked funding for PSIAs be matched by a substantial contribution from the country unit budgets. • Strengthen PSIA effectiveness through enhanced quality assurance.

The Sourcebook introduces a framework for social analysis in Poverty and Social Impact Analysis along with a set of practical tools that address the institutional, political, and social dimensions of policy design and implementation and how these impact poverty and distributional equity. It is designed for country practitioners working in policy analysis in a range of areas, including macroeconomic, sectoral, and public sector policy.

Background Understanding how policies lead to changes in health systems and in practice helps policymakers and researchers to intervene more successfully. Yet identifying all the possible changes that occur as a result of a new policy is challenging not only methodologically and logistically, as limited resources are available to conduct indefinite evaluations, but also theoretically, as a complete mapping and attribution of post-hoc changes requires a full understanding of the mechanisms underpinning all change. One option is to identify possible changes across a number of policy impact domains. Methods Using a Policy Impact Framework, we brought together data from media, documents and interviews to identify changes to midwifery policy, practice and provision, following the launch of a new global policy initiative, the State of the World’s Midwifery (SoWMy 2014) report published in 2014. We used these identified impacts to develop a map of the mechanisms underpinning these changes. Results SoWMy 2014 contributed to a number of changes at national levels, including increased status of midwifery within national governments, improved curricula and training opportunities for midwives, and improved provision of and access to midwifery-led care. These contributions were attributed to SoWMy 2014 via mechanisms such as stakeholder interaction and acquisition of government support, holding national and international dissemination and training events, and a perceived global momentum around supporting midwifery provision. Policy initiatives of this kind can lead to changes in national and international policy dialogue and practice. We identify factors and mechanisms that are likely to increase the scope and scale of these changes, at contextual, national and global levels. Conclusions Identifying changes following a policy using a policy impact framework can help researchers and policymakers understand why policies have the effect they do. This is important information for those wishing to increase the effectiveness of future policies and interventions.

The relationship between open access and academic impact (usually measured as citations received from academic publications) has been extensively studied but remains a very controversial topic. However, the effect of open access on policy impact (measured as citations received from policy documents) is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of open access on the policy impact, which might initiate a new controversial topic. Research articles in the field of library and information science (LIS) were selected as the data sample ( n  = 48,884). Negative binomial regression models were used to examine the dataset. Furthermore, propensity score matching (PSM) analysis, a causal inference approach, was used to estimate the effect of open access on the policy impact based on a selected LIS journal ( Scientometrics, n  = 4019) that received the most policy citations among the LIS journals. Linear regression models, logit regression models, four other matching methods, open access status provided by different databases, and different sizes of data samples were used to check the robustness of the main results. This study revealed that open access had significant and positive effects on the policy impact.

Despite the negative externalities on the environment and human health, today’s economies still produce excessive carbon dioxide emissions. As a result, governments are trying to shift production and consumption to more sustainable models that reduce the environmental impact of carbon dioxide emissions. The European Union, in particular, has implemented an innovative policy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by creating a market for emission rights, the emissions trading system. The objective of this paper is to perform a counterfactual analysis to measure the impact of the emissions trading system on the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. For this purpose, a recently-developed statistical machine learning method called matrix completion with fixed effects estimation is used and compared to traditional econometric techniques. We apply matrix completion with fixed effects estimation to the prediction of missing counterfactual entries of a carbon dioxide emissions matrix whose elements (indexed row-wise by country and column-wise by year) represent emissions without the emissions trading system for country-year pairs. The results obtained, confirmed by robust diagnostic tests, show a significant effect of the emissions trading system on the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions: the majority of European Union countries included in our analysis reduced their total carbon dioxide emissions (associated with selected industries) by about 15.4% during the emissions trading system treatment period 2005–2020, compared to the total carbon dioxide emissions (associated with the same industries) that would have been achieved in the absence of the emissions trading system policy. Finally, several managerial/practical implications of the study are discussed, together with its possible extensions.

Background In order to understand and measure the policy impact of research we need a definition of research impact that is suited to the task. This article systematically reviewed both peer-reviewed and grey literature for definitions of research impact to develop a definition of research impact that can be used to investigate how public health research influences policy. Method Keyword searches of the electronic databases Web of Science, ProQuest, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Informit, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Google Scholar were conducted between August 2015 and April 2016. Keywords included ‘definition’ and ‘policy’ and ‘research impact’ or ‘research evidence’. The search terms ‘health’, public health’ or ‘mental health’ and ‘knowledge transfer’ or ‘research translation’ were used to focus the search on relevant health discipline approaches. Studies included in the review described processes, theories or frameworks associated with public health, health services or mental health policy. Results We identified 108 definitions in 83 publications. The key findings were that literature on research impact is growing, but only 23% of peer-reviewed publications on the topic explicitly defined the term and that the majority (76%) of definitions were derived from research organisations and funding institutions. We identified four main types of definition, namely (1) definitions that conceptualise research impacts in terms of positive changes or effects that evidence can bring about when transferred into policies (example Research Excellence Framework definition), (2) definitions that interpret research impacts as measurable outcomes (Research Councils UK), and (3) bibliometric and (4) use-based definitions. We identified four constructs underpinning these definitions that related to concepts of contribution, change, avenues and levels of impact. Conclusion The dominance of bureaucratic definitions, the tendency to discuss but not define the concept of research impact, and the heterogeneity of definitions confirm the need for conceptual clarity in this area. We propose a working definition of research impact that can be used in a range of health policy contexts.

Academic expertise is a key pillar of governance processes around the world. A goal of policy and public sector actors is to draw on research to improve decision making, and correspondingly, a goal of public policy and public administration researchers is to provide relevant expertise. It is not clear, however, to what extent these goals are achieved. This study uses the Overton database to analyse the influence of public policy and administration research on policy documents (broadly defined as documents published by policy and public sector organisations). It considers which research is cited by policy documents and which organisations cite research more than others to justify their decisions. The findings show that measuring the influence of academic expertise is not straightforward conceptually or methodologically. However, they emphasise the role of different organisation types for achieving a greater correspondence between research and policy. Specifically, our study shows that think tanks use public policy and administration research more often than government organisations when justifying decisions. The findings provide insight into the utility of new policy databases in illuminating how academic experts can influence the ideas and actions of policy and public sector actors.

This article seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of publication activity dynamics in the USSR and in the Russian Federation in the context of evolution of national economic and political systems and science policies. A broad set of bibliometric indicators derived from the Web of Science Core Collection database and InCites electronic analytical tool were used to assess the scientific output of the Soviet and Russian research establishments. Various aspects of path dependence of contemporary Russia’s patterns of publication activity on the earlier institutional models of the R&D sector established in the Soviet Union were considered. This path dependence may be clearly observed in the thematic structure of scientific publications (even more so in internationally collaborated papers), in the composition of partner countries for joint publications, and in citation indicators. The evolution of national science policies is tracked in the context of historical development of policy instruments and government actions intended to stimulate and support the publication activity of Russian (and Soviet) academics and maximize their potential effects upon the country’s key research performance indicators.

Nutrient circularity is an emerging concept that seeks to address the environmental problems and nutrient losses caused by agriculture and food consumption. The implementation of circular nutrient technologies and practices (CNTPs), that recover, reuse, and recycle nutrients from agricultural and urban waste is an important policy objective. Yet, which policies govern the adoption of CNTPs is not well defined. This study presents the first systematic review of impact evaluations of policy measures that aim to improve nutrient circularity regulating components of the biological cycle of the circular economy, particularly focusing on bioaccessible nutrients. The key CNTPs that were subject to existing impact evaluations were identified. CNTPs were categorized into nutrient circularity themes, with manure management emerging as a prominent focus. The reviewed studies implemented several methods to assess the impacts of policies on various dependent variables, associated with nutrient circularity. Economic simulation models and linear programming were the most prevalent methods for impact evaluation. Policy measures were labeled as either enabling or not-enabling nutrient circularity based on whether they sufficiently promoted nutrient circularity through facilitating the adoption of CNTPs, and controlling for soil, water and air health, preventing its contamination. It is concluded that incentive policies, harmonizing market support, tax incentives, and technological advancements, as well as coherence of local, national and cross-country legislation prove indispensable in steering the economic feasibility and sustainability of CNTPs, offering a promising avenue for progress and a transformative shift towards nutrient circularity.