There are two imprimaturs of sophistication and professionalism in our times - the objectivity of quantitative methods, and the wisdom of experts. Together they form the application of the scientific method to problems faced by humanity. Their counterpoints are the subjectivity of anecdotes and judgements based on experiences, and the unsophisticated bureaucracies and popular commentary.
These two imprimaturs constitutes a set of twin tyrannies of our times.
So a public policy idea requires evidence. Evidence means its demonstration, and that too to the standards of physical sciences. And the techniques of science are quantitative. So the primacy of quantitative assessments and data analytics. Even those, like the management gurus, who cannot describe their worlds in neat quantitative terms have their serious syntax to signal gravitas - analytical frameworks, n X n tables, scorecards, diagrams and flow-charts, and so on. Leave aside anecdotes and experiences, even ethnographies and other non-quantitative analyses become faulty and riddled with subjectivity. Evidence is about demonstrable facts. And it is not about experiential judgements.
Business leaders, entrepreneurs, academicians, researchers, and consultants apply their technical expertise to engage with an issue or a problem. They are the experts. Their ideas and engagement have been certified as credible and wise. Their tools and practices are the mark of applying expertise. Accordingly, for example, practices followed by businesses should be applied to the realm of public policy.
Every public decision should be seen as an exercise in technocracy. Central banks are technocracies, and fiscal policy too should be a technocratic exercise. Covid 19 response is about technocratic distillation of evidence drawn from models and testing to define protocols for socially distanced lives and livelihoods. Taken to its logical conclusion, experts should be entrusted the responsibility of everything. Even politicians should be technocrats. At the least, Ministries like Finance and Infrastructure should be headed by technocrats.
Every public decision should be seen as an exercise in technocracy. Central banks are technocracies, and fiscal policy too should be a technocratic exercise. Covid 19 response is about technocratic distillation of evidence drawn from models and testing to define protocols for socially distanced lives and livelihoods. Taken to its logical conclusion, experts should be entrusted the responsibility of everything. Even politicians should be technocrats. At the least, Ministries like Finance and Infrastructure should be headed by technocrats.
This interpretation is claimed as being democratic in nature. It levels the playing field. It does not confine making policies on public issues to the bureaucrats and politicians. It does not discriminate against the inexperienced or the young, nor against the outsider. Smart young professionals are considered just as competent (if not more) to advise on public policy as experienced practitioners. Economists and epidemiologists are considered better placed than bureaucrats to engage (or undertake plumbing) on public policy.
After all they are experts. Provided they have acquired (preferably through a degree from an Ivy League University) the technical competency, anyone can engage with any problem in the world. Like with the caste system, here too a heirarchy of expertise operates, based on where you sit and preach. The incumbents of a big Wall Street financial institution or Fortune 50 company or an Ivy League US University or a Washington think tank or the World Bank or International Monetary Fund are the brahmins of this caste system.
It can be a deeply empowering situation for outsiders who are attracted by the glamour of engaging on complex public issues without any responsibility whatsoever on the consequences of their actions.
In international development, it has spawned a self-serving class of self-declared experts consisting of academic researchers, consultants, advisors, opinion makers, and influence peddlers. Think tanks and global development tourism seminars and workshops are the best places to find them.
It overlooks the reality that public issues involve social choices, an issue in the realm of politics. It involves values that go beyond efficiency and technical expertise. It is more importantly about fairness and dignified lives and livelihoods, adherence to societal-cultural norms, sustenance of the social contract, redistribution to those impacted for no fault of theirs, and so on.
The space available for these considerations have shrunk even as that for logical reasoning, quantitative assessments of evidence, and technical expertise has expanded to take its place. The elevation of technocracy to the status of wisdom, and the marginalisation of all else, in policy making is an unfortunate reality. Its consequences are being felt.
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