Low‑fidelity policy design, within‑design feedback, and the Universal Credit case

Abstract

Policy design approaches currently pay insufficient attention to feedback that occurs during

the design process. Addressing this endogenous policy design feedback gap is pressing as

policymakers can adopt ‘low-fidelity’ design approaches featuring compressed and iterative

feedback-rich design cycles. We argue that within-design feedback can be oriented to

the components of policy designs (instruments and objectives) and serve to reinforce or

undermine them during the design process. We develop four types of low-fidelity design

contingent upon the quality of feedback available to designers and their ability to integrate

it into policy design processes: confident iteration and stress testing, advocacy and hacking,

tinkering and shots in the dark, or coping. We illustrate the utility of the approach and

variation in the types, use, and impacts of within-design feedback and low-fidelity policy

design through an examination of the UK’s Universal Credit policy.