Measure the ripples, not just the splash

During the last year, around the world, the dominant response to the pandemic was lockdown. Acting primarily on the advice of medical professionals, policymakers put death prevention above everything else. Concern for lives at risk from COVID-19 trumped concern for life expectancy in general – let alone life experiences – which were largely ignored. We should never again look at these impacts in isolation. The focus should now be on how to better capture full range of outcomes of policy and their effects on distributions of wellbeing across society. We must also consider decision-making processes. The first piece in Paul’s new series, Making Policy Better, for Collateral Global looks at Ten Steps to Effective Decision-making.