What's going on in there? Canadian government policy labs and the public value management

Government-based policy labs have established themselves across the Canadian policy landscape. This article argues these labs contribute to public value management. We begin by reviewing the public value management literature, followed by Canadian contributions to the policy lab literature. Then, our inventory of 35 current Canadian government-based policy labs is descriptively analyzed, including trends in spatial concentration, the tools and methods employed, their focus areas, the number of years in existence, and their primary role in the policy process. We randomly selected nine of these labs, provide more details of their activities, and present a preliminary public value management typology to analyze policy labs. Les laboratoires de politiques gouvernementaux se sont implantes dans le paysage politique canadien. Nous passons tout d'abord en revue les contributions canadiennes a la documentation sur les laboratoires de politiques. Notre inventaire de 35 laboratoires politiques gouvernementaux canadiens actuels est analyse de maniere descriptive, y compris les tendances en matiere de concentration geographique, les outils et methodes utilises, leurs domaines d'interet, le nombre d'annees d'activite et leur role principal dans le processus politique. Nous avons selectionne au hasard neuf de ces laboratoires et fourni plus de details sur leurs activites. Nous proposons une typologie preliminaire de gestion de la valeur publique pour analyser les laboratoires de politiques.

Automated summary

This article examines the contribution of government-based policy labs to public value management in Canada, analyzing their characteristics and providing a preliminary typology for analysis.