The LIEPP (Interdisciplinary Research Center for the Evaluation of Public Policies) has been selected by an international scientific jury as a "Laboratoire d'excellence" (Labex) that will be financed for the next 10 years by the French government. It aims to play a major role in evaluating various aspects of public policy for several years through an innovative method based on multidisciplinarity and comparison of qualitative, comparative, and quantitative analysis of the same policy.
 
The projet brings together more than fifty researchers from Sciences Po, who belong to four research units of Sciences Po: the Centre d'études européennes (CEE), the Centre for Sociology of Organizations (CSO), the Department of Economics and the Center for Studies in Social Change (OSC) as well as researchers in Law and History. Some scholars from other universities are also involved and the LIEPP benefits from programs of international cooperation of its founding research centers.
 
Evaluation: an increasing necessity

The evaluation of public policies is both a democratic requirement and a necessity when it comes to national competitiveness, fiscal constraints and equity between citizens. Growth, fiscal constraints, social and environmental sustainability and regulatory competition require the most efficient public intervention. Sweden, Canada and the United Kingdom have significantly reformed their public policies, drawing on academic research of the highest international level. It would be wrong to say that nothing has been done in France, but the attempts of scientific assessment have not had yet the desired impact. However, there are sizeable potential gains in growth that can result from a systematic scientific evaluation of public policies.
 
Hence the importance of the creation of LIEPP at Sciences Po. The mobilization of the strengths of this institution and its research networks with prestigious international institutions will ensure LIEPP's sustainability, intellectual independence and visibility. With its academic legitimacy, LIEPP has recently been selected as a "Laboratoire d'excellence" that will be funded for the next 10 years by the French government. Moreover, it was selected in an ambitious bid to the French National Assembly, which will lead it to play role in evaluating various aspects of French public policy during several years.

The "échos" of LIEPP, our newsletter on the project.

• Newsletter nº3 (December, 2012)
• Newsletter nº2 (March, 2012)
• Newsletter nº1 (November, 2011)