Evidence and Social Policy: the case of gambling
Chairman's speech
Gary Banks gave a presentation to the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies in Adelaide on 30 March 2011.
Download the speech
Contents
Introduction
Social policy is harder
People are complicated
Collecting good data is hard
Policy outcomes can take a while
Hard to compare 'like with like'
Assessment often must depend on what people say
Intangible and value-driven trade-offs
A reasonable standard of 'proof' is called for
The case of gambling policy
The Commission's pursuit of evidence
Why is gambling a policy 'problem'?
Estimating costs versus benefits
Not (just) a 'medical' problem
Gaming machines should be the main focus of harm minimisation
Policy options
The dollar bet limit
Pre-commitment
Voluntary schemes have limited effectiveness
The requirements
Design issues
What about the costs?
The way forward