Public Policy Evaluation and Sustainable Economic Development: Theoretical and Empirical Aspects

Dear Colleagues,

In the last few decades, sustainable economic development has become an overarching framework for issues related to agriculture and land use, environment, human resources, or research and innovation. This has created an unprecedented response in public policies in various fields, which are also expected to include a long term sustainable component. Evaluation is regarded as a crucial step in the cycle of public policies, taken ex-ante, during the interventions, or ex-post. It is meant to assess the impacts of the interventions, to provide knowledge on how the interventions can be improved, and how to maximize the benefits. Therefore, public policy evaluation should consider the specificities of various fields, such as agriculture, human capital, or research and development, because they require adapted evaluation methods and measures for properly capturing the intended or unintended effects.

One key issue in the design of the public policies is to ensure sustainable effects. This Special Issue is open for papers dealing with public policy evaluation in the context of sustainable development. Authors are encouraged to submit papers that examine the various dimensions of the evaluation of projects, programmes, or policies in fields such as the following: Agriculture and land use, environment, human resources, infrastructure, research and development. Both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods are included within the scope. Also, we expect to capture the interest of researchers looking at public policy evaluation in developing or developed countries. The existing literature on policy evaluation is growing; however, the cases of transition and former communist countries (as well as specific sectors such as agriculture and R&D) are underrepresented.  It would be of high interest for decision makers, academia, or for the final beneficiaries of public interventions to understand the role of the evaluation, its limits and strengths, and how it captures the effects of public policies.

Prof. Nicolae Istudor
Prof. Margareta Stela Florescu
Prof. Monica Roman
Guest Editors

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