Evidence-based policy is limited by the perception that randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are expensive and infeasible. We argue that carefully tailored research design can overcome these challenges and enable more widespread randomized evaluations of policy implementation. We demonstrate how a stepped-wedge (randomized rollout) design that adapts synthetic control methods overcame substantial practical, administrative, political, and statistical constraints to evaluating King County’s new food safety rating system. The core RCT component of the evaluation came at little financial cost to the government, allowed the entire county to be treated, and resulted in no functional implementation delay. The case of restaurant sanitation grading has played a critical role in the scholarship on information disclosure, and our study provides the first evidence from a randomized trial of the causal effects of grading on health outcomes. We find that the grading system had no appreciable effects on foodborne illness, hospitalization, or food handling practices but that the system may have marginally increased public engagement by encouraging higher reporting.

循证政策受到随机对照试验 (RCT) 昂贵且不可行的看法的限制。我们认为，精心定制的研究设计可以克服这些挑战，并能够对政策实施进行更广泛的随机评估。我们展示了采用综合控制方法的阶梯楔形（随机推出）设计如何克服实际、行政、政治和统计方面的限制，以评估金县的新食品安全评级系统。评估的核心 RCT 组成部分对政府来说几乎没有财务成本，允许整个县得到治疗，并且没有导致功能实施延迟。餐厅卫生分级案例在信息披露学术研究中发挥了关键作用，我们的研究提供了一项关于分级对健康结果的因果影响的随机试验的第一个证据。我们发现分级系统对食源性疾病、住院或食品处理实践没有明显影响，但该系统可能通过鼓励更多的报告来略微增加公众参与。