The public lecture discussed how empirical research and evidence-based policymaking can help governments design social policies that are more effective and better targeted, particularly in the Indonesian context.

The Vice Dean for Academic Affairs of SBM ITB, Dr.rer.pol. Eko Agus Prasetio, S.T., M.B.A., CIM®, expressed his appreciation for Prof. Ben Olken’s presence at ITB. He emphasized the importance of strengthening a research culture within the academic environment to support meaningful contributions to global public policy.

In his presentation, Prof. Ben Olken, who also serves as a director at J-PAL, explained that various modern public policy challenges require a scientific, data-driven approach. According to him, questions such as how to improve the quality of education, the effectiveness of social assistance, and the use of public transportation cannot be answered through assumptions alone, but must be examined through systematic evaluation.

“We face complex policy questions across different sectors. These questions can be answered through comprehensive program evaluations to help determine what needs to be improved, scaled up, or scaled back,” he said.

He also introduced the Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) approach used by J-PAL to evaluate the impact of social programs. Through this method, a population is randomly divided into a treatment group and a comparison group to objectively measure the impact of a policy.

As a global research organization based at MIT, J-PAL focuses on evaluating social programs to support poverty reduction efforts through experimental approaches. During the lecture, Prof. Olken shared Indonesia’s experience as an important example in the development of evidence-based policymaking.

Prof. Olken emphasized that strengthening the evidence base in decision-making is important not only in the social protection sector, but also across various other fields.

“Better evidence makes for better decisions in any field,” he said.