Learning is conventionally said to occur when individuals assimilate new information, including that based on past experience, and apply it in their subsequent actions. Therefore, we can define social learning as a deliberate attempt to adjust the goals or techniques of policy in response to past experience and new information. Learning is indicated when policy changes as the result of a process.
(Hall, 1993: 278)
Hall, P. 1993. Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain Comparative Politics Vol 25, (3), pp. 275-296.
[Footnote 20 – Note that this does not necessarily mean that policy becomes better or more efficient as a result of learning. Just as a child can learn bad habits, governments, too, may learn the “wrong” lessons from a given experience. Although learning usually improves the capacity of a state to attain its policy goals, it need not always do so, and a government’s overall goals may also be open to question on other grounds. The main point is that learning reflects a deliberate attempt to adjust policy in the light of past experience and policy-relevant knowledge.
(Hall, 1993: 293)
See also
Video I made yonks ago.
Policy Learning
marchudson.net 