Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

World Service,06 Dec 2016,23 mins

Why Do Governments Do Stupid Things?

The Inquiry

Available for over a year

Trust in government is at an all-time low in many countries. From failed healthcare policies to missed intelligence, government blunders happen often – and visibly. But successful policy-making is hard (and fixes are rarely as quick as politicians like to promise). Some argue that governments would do stupid things less often if they based their policies on the careful analysis of good evidence; find out what works, in other words, and then do that. But that’s not how most governments operate, most of the time. Why not? Presenter: Michael Blastland (Photo: a group of journalists being surrounded by the Media. Credit Shutterstock)

Programme Website
More episodes