Providing a model for citizen deliberation over economic trade-offs

Abstract

This paper examines the Citizens' Economic Council on the Cost of Living (CEC), focusing on the societal impacts arising from the project and its relationship to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The CEC was a deliberative process designed to test whether deliberative mini publics can meaningfully inform complex economic policy decisions. It addressed the overall question: "How should UK government respond to the cost-of-living crisis through fiscal policy?". 39 citizens participated in six online workshops between March and April 2023, with sessions combining expert presentations, scenario-driven deliberation, microsimulation modelling, and household personas, so as to make complex fiscal policy trade-offs accessible to non-expert participants. The project’s principal societal impact was to show that non-specialists can successfully contribute to the economic dimensions of policy formation when given appropriate time and suitable tools. It provided a replicable model with was subsequently used to structure citizen deliberation over economic trade-offs in UK climate policy.