Post-modern States are characterized by a decrease of the intrinsic legitimacy, which is based on law and election. This decrease of legitimacy leads States to increasingly seek for extrinsic sources of legitimacy to justify their public actions.
I investigate to what extent evaluation clauses inserted into laws (requiring mandatory evaluation of the policy effectiveness) can contribute to commitment and public action’s legitimacy. Even though parliamentarians could perceive evaluation as a good way to convinced reluctant voters, no studies have empirically demonstrated these mechanisms’ effectiveness and data are currently lacking.
I experimentally study whether the chance of adoption of a bill depends on evaluation clauses, I submit a bill to two groups and I ask subjects if they would adopt it. In one group, the bill includes an evaluation clause, not in the other one. Comparing the adoption rates, I can measure the impact of proposing effectiveness evaluation on policymaking process.
