System dynamics modelling and the use of evidence to inform policymaking

Abstract

In recent years there has been growing interest in the policy community to apply insights from system dynamics modelling to address the complexity of many policy issues. This, however, has occurred in parallel to recent developments in critical scholarship on the nature of evidence use within public policymaking. While system dynamics aims to assist in the analysis and solving of complex policy problems, in doing so it also serves to identify which pieces of data and evidence are considered policy-relevant, or how pieces of evidence fit within a complex policy space. In this paper, we combine insights from the fields of complex systems modelling and critical policy studies in relation to these issues. Scholars working on the use of evidence within policymaking have explored how policy problems, and their potential solutions, have a range of potential framings and constructions. They further identify how processes are undertaken to define problems, apply evidence, and choose solutions can themselves specify which constructions become realized. As system dynamics modelling is increasingly applied as a policy-informing tool, it is critical to reflect on how policy issues and their solutions are constructed or understood, as well as whose values and views are represented in doing so.