public policy

Transparency: A Tool to Build Election Trust
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Transparency: A Tool to Build Election Trust

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Government & Civic Behavior

Transparency: A Tool to Build Election Trust

Trust in government and election confidence rates have continued to decline in the US. Research indicates that employing operational transparency could be a potential solution. Using these insights, we tested how transparency prompts impact trust in the mail-in voting election process. Higher-level transparency regarding the mail-in voting process was most effective and can be easily scaled by election administration to build trust in these processes.

By Joseph Sherlock|2022-05-24T16:04:54+00:00May 17th, 2022|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Government & Civic Behavior|Tags: behavioral economics, elections, government, public policy, RCT, transparency|

Combining Behavioural Science and Māori Cultural Values to Improve the Criminal Justice System
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Combining Behavioural Science and Māori Cultural Values to Improve the Criminal Justice System

Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Government & Civic Behavior, Morality & Prosocial Behavior

Combining Behavioural Science and Māori Cultural Values to Improve the Criminal Justice System

In behavioural science, context is everything. Behavioural Science Aotearoa (BSA) works across the justice sector in New Zealand, where indigenous Māori people make up almost 17% of the population. We combined behavioural science with Māori cultural principles to encourage people to clear their Warrants to Arrest by voluntarily appearing at court. Working with New Zealand Police, we designed and tested a phone-based initiative and found promising evidence for its success.

By Kaori Takenaka|2022-05-26T06:56:24+00:00April 18th, 2022|Categories: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Government & Civic Behavior, Morality & Prosocial Behavior|Tags: behavior change, behavioral economics, behavioral science, corrections, implementationintentions, justice, messengereffect, nudge, public policy|

Relatively Tempting: Calorie Difference, Self-Control and Food Choices
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Relatively Tempting: Calorie Difference, Self-Control and Food Choices

Health & Medicine, Marketing & Consumer Behavior

Relatively Tempting: Calorie Difference, Self-Control and Food Choices

Obesity has become a health crisis in many countries. Some governments have begun to mandate the display of calorie information on fast-food menus. However, research has offered mixed results regarding the effect of calorie information on consumed calories. This may be partly explained by two opposing forces: the calorie content of food alternatives and the relative calorie distance between food items. New research reported here suggests that the impact of calorie information depends on the relative magnitudes of these two variables.

By Samir Huseynov|2022-02-17T05:24:19+00:00September 13th, 2021|Categories: Health & Medicine, Marketing & Consumer Behavior|Tags: consumer behavior, food labeling, nutrition, public health, public policy, self-control|

National Identity and Public Health Behaviors During Covid-19
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National Identity and Public Health Behaviors During Covid-19

Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Health & Medicine

National Identity and Public Health Behaviors During Covid-19

In a massive international collaboration including more than 200 researchers, we examined the adoption of public health behaviors and support of public policy interventions during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. We found that individuals who identified more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviors and greater support for public health policies. This result was later replicated using aggregated behavioral data.

By Hallgeir Sjåstad|2022-02-17T05:51:59+00:00June 8th, 2021|Categories: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Health & Medicine|Tags: behavior change, covid-19, data analytics, data science, identity, public health, public policy, RCT|

Good for Some, Bad for Others: The Welfare Effects of Nudges
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Good for Some, Bad for Others: The Welfare Effects of Nudges

Behavioral Theory & Insights

Good for Some, Bad for Others: The Welfare Effects of Nudges

Nudges have become popular policy instruments, for good reasons. However, recent studies show they might sometimes backfire or cause undesired distributional effects – differing impacts across people. Such studies highlight the importance of careful policy analysis that examines both the average and distributional impacts of nudges.

By Linda Thunström|2022-02-17T06:18:52+00:00February 19th, 2019|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights|Tags: behavior change, behavioral economics, behavioral science, big data, choice architecture, data science, distributional effects, ethics, government, nudge, nudging, personalization, public policy, welfare effects|

Supporting Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Nudging, Boosting or Both?
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Supporting Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Nudging, Boosting or Both?

Behavioral Theory & Insights

Supporting Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Nudging, Boosting or Both?

Heuristics play an important role in daily judgments and decision-making, but a scientific debate has been ongoing as to whether heuristics result in systematic errors or make us smarter. Both approaches have resulted in tools to support decision-making. Nudges address systematic errors and biases, while boosts support informed decision-making under uncertainty. But can these two opposing approaches be integrated into one framework?

By Martina Raue|2022-02-17T06:20:30+00:00December 11th, 2018|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights|Tags: availability, behavioral economics, behavioral science, choice architecture, decision making, decision support, default, fast and frugal, heuristic, inertia, Kahneman, nudge, nudging, present bias, public policy, rerpresentativeness, uncertainty|

Behavioural Science, Rationality and Public Policy
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Behavioural Science, Rationality and Public Policy

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Government & Civic Behavior

Behavioural Science, Rationality and Public Policy

The language of rationality is closely tied to ideas from behavioural science, economics and nudge theory, but how does it shape the way we make public policy and should we be casting it under a critical eye? Read this post to find out more.

By Emmanuel Lee|2022-02-17T06:26:49+00:00November 24th, 2017|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Government & Civic Behavior|Tags: behavioral economics, behavioral science, homo economicus, nudge, nudging, public policy, rational choice theory, rationality|

What is the Future of Behavioral Research and Large-scale Nudges? Five Practical Tips
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What is the Future of Behavioral Research and Large-scale Nudges? Five Practical Tips

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Research Methods

What is the Future of Behavioral Research and Large-scale Nudges? Five Practical Tips

By Nathan Maddix Can Nudging Overcome Physics Envy? As is now well-known, tremendous results have been found for nudges – behavioral interventions designed to facilitate choice for welfare-promoting outcomes. In my work over the last 5 years, I have sought not only to design and administer nudges, but also to understand how economists and [...]

By Nathan Maddix|2022-06-30T01:27:36+00:00October 31st, 2017|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Research Methods|Tags: behavior change, behavioral design, behavioral economics, behavioral research, choice architecture, decision making, experiments, nudge, public policy, RCT, social psychology|

Retirement Planning, Psychology, and Behavioral Economics
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Retirement Planning, Psychology, and Behavioral Economics

Finance & Investing, Government & Civic Behavior, Society & Everyday Life

Retirement Planning, Psychology, and Behavioral Economics

Planning our retirement is an endeavour we need to undertake sooner or later. A well thought-out pension plan must be able to ensure our well-being during a long period of professional inactivity. However, a striking finding is that people do not save enough for their retirement. They have difficulties to design a retirement plan tailored to their needs and end up with an insufficient pension income and an impoverished lifestyle. Behavioural economics has pointed out some of the problems that affect retirement planning.

By Ariel Cecchi|2022-02-17T06:47:24+00:00December 22nd, 2016|Categories: Finance & Investing, Government & Civic Behavior, Society & Everyday Life|Tags: ageing, behavioral economics, behavioral finance, behavioral science, bias, choice overload, emotion, emotions, financial literacy, pension, personal finance, present bias, procrastination, public policy, retirement|

A Run-Down of the CEGA Behavioral Economics in Global Health Conference
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A Run-Down of the CEGA Behavioral Economics in Global Health Conference

Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Emerging & Developing Economies, Health & Medicine

A Run-Down of the CEGA Behavioral Economics in Global Health Conference

“How can we use behavioral insights to nudge individuals into better health decision making?” This is one of the fundamental questions that inspired the third annual Conference on Behavioral Economics (BE) in Global Health at UC Berkeley, organized by the Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health Initiative (BERI) at the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA).

By Patrick Krause|2022-02-17T06:50:12+00:00September 30th, 2016|Categories: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Emerging & Developing Economies, Health & Medicine|Tags: behavior change, behavioral science, developing nations, government, health, hygiene, international development, medicine, nudge, nudging, present bias, public health, public policy, reproductive health, world bank|