About the paper
Efficient and effective regulation is critical for public wellbeing and a productive economy. To improve regulation, regulators are increasingly adopting a technique called regulatory experimentation – safely testing changes to rules to see if they achieve better outcomes.
Building on the success of the NSW Government’s COVID-19 regulatory relaxations, our paper serves as a simple, accessible resource for regulators seeking to experiment to drive best-practice regulation.
Drawing on real-world case studies, the latest research, and interviews from organisations with first-hand experience conducting regulatory experiments, our paper offers insights into the benefits and challenges of testing policy options, as well as practical steps regulators can take to start experimenting.
Key findings
- Regulators use a range of experimental methods and techniques, varying in the expertise and resources required to implement them. These include before-and-after studies, randomised controlled trials, quasi-experiments and regulatory sandboxes.
- Experiments can drive better regulation by allowing regulators to:
- respond to risks and adapt to a changing regulatory environment
- facilitate the safe and measured introduction of new technologies
- find more cost-effective ways of regulating
- gather evidence to overcome opposition to change.
- Regulatory experimentation is not a one-size-fits-all approach and may not always be practical, for instance if the necessary data cannot be collected.
- Well-designed regulation is forward-looking, with data collection and evaluation processes built in as part of implementation.
- To build confidence and support for regulatory experimentation, regulators can:
- foster a culture of experimentation by starting with small wins, incorporating trials into business-as-usual activities, and sharing results to normalise experimentation
- develop their expertise by making use of accessible online tools, collaborating with experienced project partners to grow skills, and making use of available guides and resources
- gain support from senior leaders by ensuring the scope and objectives of regulatory trials are thoroughly mapped out.
See our regulatory experimentation toolkit for case studies, guides and research to support regulators to experiment.