Glossary

A practical leadership framework that helps individuals and organisations adapt and thrive in challenging environments.

An approach to policy development that emphasises flexibility, iterative development, and responsiveness to change.

Systematic and repeatable errors in a computer system that create unfair outcomes, such as privileging one arbitrary group of users over others.

A method of economic analysis that applies psychological insights into human behaviour to explain economic decision-making.

A systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives by comparing their costs and benefits in monetary terms.

A policy instrument that puts a direct price on greenhouse gas emissions, either through a carbon tax (a fixed charge per tonne of CO₂) or an emissions trading scheme, to create a financial incentive for reducing emissions.

The design of the environment in which people make decisions. The way choices are presented — including defaults, ordering, and framing — systematically influences what people choose, even when their options remain the same.

An economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources, by employing reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling to create a closed-loop system.

A whole-economy simulation model that represents the interactions between households, firms, governments, and the rest of the world across all sectors simultaneously. Unlike input–output models, CGE models incorporate price changes and resource constraints, allowing analysts to trace how a policy shock in one sector ripples through the entire economy in both quantity and price terms. CGE models are widely used for assessing the economy-wide impacts of tax reform, trade agreements, climate policy, and major infrastructure investment.

What would have happened in the absence of a policy intervention. Establishing a credible counterfactual is central to any evaluation that claims to measure a policy’s causal effect, since outcomes must be compared against a realistic baseline of ‘without the policy’.

An interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms, and systems to extract knowledge and insights from structured and unstructured data.

A statistical technique that attempts to mimic an experimental research design using observational study data by studying the differential effect of a treatment on a 'treatment group' versus a 'control group'.

A type of currency available only in digital or electronic form, including cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

The rate at which future costs and benefits are converted to their present-day equivalent in a cost–benefit analysis. A higher discount rate gives less weight to impacts that occur in the future. The choice of discount rate can dramatically change the outcome of long-term analyses.

The effects of a policy or economic change on the distribution of economic variables like income or wealth across different groups in society.

A methodology for evaluating the effects of a policy, programme, project, or economic shock on the economy of a specified area.

A market-based policy instrument, also known as cap-and-trade, that sets a ceiling on total emissions from covered sources and allows participants to buy and sell emission permits. The cap creates environmental certainty; trading allows emissions reductions to occur where they are cheapest.

An approach to policy decisions that emphasises the use of high-quality scientific evidence to inform decision-making.

The cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit.

The use of government taxation and spending to influence macroeconomic conditions, including output, employment, and inflation. Fiscal policy is expansionary when government spending increases or taxes fall, and contractionary when the reverse occurs.

A labour market characterised by short-term contracts, freelance work, and temporary positions, as opposed to permanent jobs.

A methodology of economics that supports the harmonious interaction between humans and nature and attempts to meet the needs of both simultaneously.

The study of methods to promote the adoption and integration of evidence-based practices, interventions, and policies into routine health care and public health settings.

A situation in which one party to a transaction has more or better information than the other. Information asymmetry can lead to market inefficiency or market breakdown, as illustrated by Akerlof’s Market for Lemons. Government responses include mandatory disclosure requirements and licensing.

An analytical framework, developed by Wassily Leontief, that maps the interdependencies between different sectors of an economy — showing how the output of one industry becomes the input of another. Input–output models are a foundational tool in Economic Impact Assessment, enabling analysts to trace how a change in final demand (such as a new infrastructure project or a major event) flows through the economy and generates direct, indirect, and induced effects on output, employment, and income.

The branch of economics concerned with the behaviour of the economy as a whole — including aggregate output, inflation, unemployment, and the effects of fiscal and monetary policy. Macroeconomics examines forces that shape national and global economic conditions.

A situation where the allocation of goods and services by a free market is not efficient, often leading to a net social welfare loss.

The branch of economics that studies the behaviour of individual agents — consumers, firms, and markets — and how they make decisions under conditions of scarcity. Microeconomics analyses how prices are set, how markets function, and how individuals respond to incentives.

A modelling technique that operates at the level of individual units such as persons, households, or firms, simulating large-scale policy impacts.

Actions taken by a central bank to influence the supply of money and the cost of borrowing, primarily through the setting of interest rates. The main objectives are typically price stability and, in some jurisdictions, maximum employment.

A decision-making tool that evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision making, often for complex problems with both quantitative and qualitative considerations.

The process by which an initial injection of spending into an economy generates a larger total increase in economic activity. In Economic Impact Assessment, multipliers quantify how each dollar of direct expenditure — for example, on construction workers’ wages — cycles through the economy as those workers spend their income, triggering further rounds of spending in other sectors. Economic multipliers are typically greater than one but vary significantly by sector, region, and the degree to which spending is retained locally rather than leaking to imports or savings.

The sum of all discounted future costs and benefits of a project or policy. A positive NPV indicates that benefits exceed costs in present-value terms. NPV is the primary output of a cost–benefit analysis and depends heavily on the discount rate chosen.

A behavioural policy intervention that alters the choice environment in a predictable way without forbidding any option or significantly changing financial incentives. Nudges work by going with the grain of human psychology rather than relying on mandates or price signals.

The value of the next-best alternative forgone when a choice is made. Because resources are scarce, choosing one option always means giving up another. Opportunity cost is fundamental to all economic decision-making and is central to cost–benefit analysis.

A tax levied on an activity that generates negative externalities, set equal to the social cost of that activity, so that private and social incentives are aligned. Named after Arthur Pigou, who formalised the concept of externalities in 1920. Carbon taxes are a prominent contemporary example.

A ceremonial economic practice of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America, in which wealth and goods are redistributed or destroyed by the host as an expression of status and social obligation. In contrast to Western accumulation models, the potlatch system confers prestige on those who give the most rather than those who retain the most. It represents a sophisticated economic institution that regulates the distribution of resources, reinforces community bonds, and cycles wealth through the group — illustrating that market-based exchange is one of many possible ways of organising economic life.

An evaluation method that focuses on how a programme is implemented and operates, assessing whether it is operating as it was intended.

Goods or services that are non-excludable and non-rivalrous, meaning that individuals cannot be excluded from use, and use by one individual does not reduce availability to others.

An experimental form of impact evaluation that randomly assigns participants into treatment and control groups to test the effectiveness of specific interventions.

A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design that elucidates the causal effects of interventions by assigning a cutoff or threshold above or below which an intervention is assigned.

A phenomenon in which a regulatory agency, tasked with acting in the public interest, comes to act primarily in the interests of the industry or sector it is supposed to regulate. Regulatory capture can occur through lobbying, revolving-door employment, or the information advantage that regulated industries hold over their regulators.

A systematic approach to assessing potential positive and negative outcomes associated with a decision or policy implementation.

A process of analysing possible future events by considering alternative possible outcomes.

The study of how the uncertainty in the output of a mathematical model or system can be apportioned to different sources of uncertainty in its inputs.

The fair, just, and equitable management of all institutions serving the public directly or by contract, and the fair and equitable distribution of public services and implementation of public policy.

A technique used to identify and assess the importance of key people, groups of people, or institutions that may significantly influence the success of an activity or project.

The ability to maintain or support a process continuously over time, often with a focus on environmental, economic, and social dimensions.

An approach to analysis that focuses on how the constituent parts of a system interrelate and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems.