Data-Driven Policy Impact Evaluation

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. The Power of Microdata: An Introduction

   • Nuno Crato, Paolo Paruolo

   Pages 1-14Open Access

3. Microdata for Policy Research

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. From ‘Intruders’ to ‘Partners’: The Evolution of the Relationship Between the Research Community and Sources of Official Administrative Data

      • Paul Jackson

      Pages 17-26Open Access

   3. Microdata for Social Sciences and Policy Evaluation as a Public Good

      • Ugo Trivellato

      Pages 27-45Open Access

   4. Overview of Data Linkage Methods for Policy Design and Evaluation

      • Natalie Shlomo

      Pages 47-65Open Access

   5. Privacy in Microdata Release: Challenges, Techniques, and Approaches

      • Giovanni Livraga

      Pages 67-83Open Access

4. Microdata Access

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-85

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   2. Access to European Statistical System Microdata

      • Aleksandra Bujnowska

      Pages 87-99Open Access

   3. Giving the International Scientific Community Access to German Labor Market Data: A Success Story

      • Dana Müller, Joachim Möller

      Pages 101-117Open Access

   4. Hungary: A Case Study on Improving Access to Administrative Data in a Low-Trust Environment

      • Ágota Scharle

      Pages 119-130Open Access

   5. Experimental and Longitudinal Data for Scientific and Policy Research: Open Access to Data Collected in the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) Panel

      • Marcel Das, Marike Knoef

      Pages 131-146Open Access

5. Counterfactual Studies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 147-147

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   2. Public Policy, Big Data, and Counterfactual Evaluation: An Illustration from an Employment Activation Programme

      • Pedro S. Martins

      Pages 149-163Open Access

   3. The Use of Administrative Data to Evaluate the Impact of Active Labor Market Policies: The Case of the Italian Liste di Mobilità

      • Enrico Rettore, Ugo Trivellato

      Pages 165-182Open Access

   4. Negative Home Equity and Job Mobility

      • Andrea Morescalchi, Sander van Veldhuizen, Bart Voogt, Benedikt Vogt

      Pages 183-202Open Access

   5. Microdata and Policy Evaluation at CPB

      • Rudy Douven, Laura van Geest, Sander Gerritsen, Egbert Jongen, Arjan Lejour

      Pages 203-219Open Access

   6. Long-Term Effects of a Social Intervention for Vulnerable Youth: A Register-Based Study

      • Jacob Nielsen Arendt, Mette Verner

      Pages 221-236Open Access

   7. Does the Road to Happiness Depend on the Retirement Decision? Evidence from Italy

      • Claudio Deiana, Gianluca Mazzarella

      Pages 237-248Open Access

   8. The Impact of Age of Entry on Academic Progression

      • Julio Cáceres-Delpiano, Eugenio P. Giolito

      Pages 249-267Open Access

In the light of better and more detailed administrative databases, this open access book provides statistical tools for evaluating the effects of public policies advocated by governments and public institutions. Experts from academia, national statistics offices and various research centers present modern econometric methods for an efficient data-driven policy evaluation and monitoring, assess the causal effects of policy measures and report on best practices of successful data management and usage. Topics include data confidentiality, data linkage, and national practices in policy areas such as public health, education and employment. It offers scholars as well as practitioners from public administrations, consultancy firms and nongovernmental organizations insights into counterfactual impact evaluation methods and the potential of data-based policy and program evaluation. 

• Open Access
• Policy Impact Evaluation
• Policy Evaluation
• Public Policy
• Administrative Data
• Big Data
• Counterfactual Impact Evaluation
• Database Linkage
• Data Anonymity and Data Availability
• Public Policy Evaluation
• CIE
• Microdata Evaluation

“This book, edited by Nuno Crato and Paolo Paruolo, provides a thorough analysis of evaluation studies and is a valuable contribution for a reader seeking to gain an understanding of the literature on microdata issues and the use of the results related to policy evaluation. … the book could be very useful to scholars interested in regional development and regional policy effectiveness given the topics and the discussions included.” (Roberto Gabriele, Regional Studies, Vol. 53 (6), 2019)

• University of Lisbon , Ispra, Italy

  Nuno Crato

• Joint Research Centre , Ispra, Italy

  Paolo Paruolo

Nuno Crato studied economics at Lisbon Technical University and worked as a quantitative consultant for project evaluation and management, Nuno Crato graduated with a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Delaware and worked in the U.S. for many years as a college professor and researcher. Now a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Lisbon, he has published extensively in the fields of time series analysis, econometrics and applied probability models. He served as dean of the Technical University of Lisbon and as President of Taguspark, the largest science and Technology Park in Portugal. An active science writer, he wrote more than a dozen books, some published in the U.K., U.S., Portugal, Brazil, and Italy, receiving a prize from the European Mathematical Society in 2003 and a Science award from the European Union in 2008. From 2011 to 2015 he was the Portuguese Minister of Education and Science. He has continually pledged for data availability and data-based policy evaluation. He works now at the Joint Research Center as a senior grantholder scientist.


Paolo Paruolo is an econometrician with interest in theoretical and applied econometrics and in counterfactual methods. He has a Master in Economics and Statistics from the University of Bologna (1987) and a PhD in Mathematical Statistics (Theoretical Econometrics) from the University of Copenhagen (1995). He was Assistant and Associate Professor of Econometrics at the University of Bologna between 1989 and 1999, and Full Professor of Econometrics at the University of Insubria (Varese) between 1999 and 2013. 
Since 2013 he is a Researcher at the JRC, in Ispra, Varese, Italy. He is presently the Coordinator of the Competence Centre on Microeconomic Evaluation (CC-ME), which includes the Centre for Research on Impact Evaluation (CRIE) at the JRC. For his publication record, he was ranked among the best 150 econometricians worldwide in Baltagi (2007) "Worldwide econometrics rankings: 1989-2005", Econometric Theory 23, p. 952-1012.