David can answer separately, but since I agree with him, consider my
colleague Atila Abdulkadirogu's " Strategy-proofness versus Efficiency
in Matching with Indifferences: Redesigning the NYC High School Match"
with Parag A. Pathak and Alvin E. Roth,  (American Economic Review
2009, 99:5, 1954–1978
<http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.99.5.1954>)
Empirical? check
Relatively value free? check
Policy can be based upon? check


On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 3:42 PM, Pat Gunning <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Could you identify some empirical work that has these two characteristics,
> David?
>
> On 5/13/2011 5:18 PM, Colander, David C. wrote:
>>
>> The change that has occurred in economics is that today, there is
>> empirical work that also is relatively value free to base policy on
>> (although a lot less than many suggest).
>

-- 
E. Roy Weintraub
Professor of Economics
Fellow, Center for the History of Political Economy
Duke University
www.econ.duke.edu/~erw/erw.homepage.html