Policy Experiments, Informed Consent, and Democratic Authorization

In a typical clinical trial, researchers are required to obtain participants’ informed consent. But for some policy experiments, it is impracticable to obtain informed consent. As a result, these trials sometimes randomize individuals to interventions without their consent. Some critics allege that these experiments fail to show respect for persons and are therefore unethical. Given that governments are increasingly relying on randomized experiments to determine which policies are evidence-based and cost-effective, it is important to assess this criticism. I argue that policy experiments conducted by democratically authorized actors, most notably, democratic governments and their respective institutions, show respect for persons despite not obtaining informed consent.