Achieving strategic results through whole-of-government evidence-informed decision making

This chapter examines the ability of the governments of Estonia and Finland to take effective decisions based on a robust set of evidence. It provides an overview of the state of evidence-based decision making in both countries, and assesses it as a function of their capacity to effectively generate and integrate regulatory impact assessment, performance information, citizen engagement, strategic foresight information and existing knowledge bases into government’s decisions. The chapter notes recent advancements in improving these processes while emphasising the need to formalise institutional arrangements to foster evidence-based decision making in order to ensure major legislative and strategic initiatives have been informed by a robust set of evidence.