Evaluation blogs, podcasts and webinars in the first half of 2025: Roundup review IV

This ‘roundup’ review of evaluation blogs, podcasts and webinars covers the first half of 2025. It highlights several recent ‘big shifts’ in behavioural science and outlines some of the implications for evaluation. It discusses the uncertain process of translating evidence from experimental studies on conditional cash transfer programmes into policy influence, raising questions about the political economy of evidence-based policy more generally. It also covers recent debates regarding government efficiency in response to the establishment of the Department for Government Efficiency in the United States. Cutting across each of these themes is debates on what counts as ‘rigorous’ evidence and what influences policy and budget decisions.