Program Evaluation: Its Significance and Priority for Shaping and Modification of Public Policies: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Although the primary purpose of evaluation is to improve the quality of programs by identifying theirs strengths and weaknesses, its roles becomes more instrumental in determining the fate of crucial policies and programs, when stakeholders and constituents are politically sensitive towards a given policy and allocation of scarce resources to them particularly in bad economic situation. Policies like economic recovery, health care reform in U.S., and similar economic programs at the regional and global levels in other countries fall in that category. Assessing the organizational capability in achieving the desired policy outcomes and the gap between the program plan and its implementation is another vitally important result that can be obtained via sound evaluation process. This paper presents a case on the significance of policy and program evaluation and how a disciplined approach to such evaluation can provide factual evidences on the utility and impact of a given policy or program and gaining support from its sponsors and constituents. A review of evaluation traditions is followed by making reference to a few examples from United States and Romanian scenes.

Keywords: public policies, program evaluation, comparative analysis

JEL Classification: D73,D78