The Australian Government has a range of programs available to assist those experiencing drought. But despite help being available, many do not reach out. The Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) worked with the Joint Agency Drought Taskforce to research the barriers preventing people from seeking help.
We sought to:
• understand the most effective forms of communication about available forms of assistance, and incentives to take up assistance; and
• understand the…
Behavioural Insights Projects
Discover projects applying behavioural science to policy from around the world. Add your own projects, whether completed or still ongoing, to contribute knowledge on BI applications across different countries, policy areas, and topics of interest.
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Legend: Projects status
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BI Project
Feel & act green: can compliments about sustainable behaviour lead to the next sustainable…
Rijkswaterstaat (the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management) wants to induce behavioural change in several areas. The circular economy is one example. A study examined whether consumers will make more sustainable choices if they have been complimented on their past actions or behaviour that were environmentally friendly or sustainable. This proved to be the case.
Why this experiment was conducted: additional incentive for sustainable behaviour
Behavioural change is…
In partnership with Godot Inc. the Yomitan Village Office in Okinawa (Japan) conducted an AI-driven sludge audit of the medical check-up process. Since the 2022 financial year, the village office and Godot Inc. have been working together to apply behavioural science to medical check-up notifications delivered via SMS and postcards.
In 2021, Yomitan Village had the lowest general medical check-up rate among all 41 municipalities in Okinawa Prefecture. However, the application of behavioural…
BI Project
Combining Incentives with Narratives: Online-Field Experiment with Tesco to Reduce Plastic Bag Use
The pervasive use of single-use plastic bags presents a growing environmental challenge globally. Despite legislative efforts, such as the mandatory 5p bag-charge introduced in England in October 2015, the problem persists. The issue took on renewed urgency in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has seen a regression in consumer habits towards increased use of single-use plastics, driven by health and safety concerns (Adyel, 2020).
While traditional economic theory suggests that incentives…
BI Project
More Than Public Service: A Field Experiment on Job Advertisements and Diversity in the Police
There is a human capital crisis looming in the public sector as fewer and fewer people show interest in government jobs. At the same time, many public sector organizations struggle with increasing the diversity of their workforce. Although many institutional forces contribute to the challenge, part of the solution is in how government recruits. This study presents the results of a field experiment aimed at attracting more and different people to apply to a police force by varying job…
BI Project
Whāriki Haumaru: Encouraging voluntary participation at court for people with outstanding Warrants…
We seek to increase voluntary appearances for people with outstanding Warrants to Arrest (WTA) through reminder phone calls from Māori Wardens and Police. This Auckland-based project follows a proof-of-concept trial in the Eastern District, in which Māori Wardens made phone calls to people with outstanding WTAs and we compared voluntary appearance rates for those who were reached via phone to those who were not.
While this trial in the Eastern District showed indicative evidence that phone…
The Government of Canada has announced plans to achieve 60% of personal vehicle sales to be comprised of zero-emissions vehicles(ZEV) by 2030, and 100% by 2025. While ZEVs have growing momentum among Canadians, sales penetration remains low compared to stated targets. In partnership with Natural Resources Canada, the Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU) are conducting this research to better understand the drivers and barriers to ZEV adoption among Canadians, and empirically test a selection of…
BI Project
Full price information for consumers: What effect does the way prices are displayed have on online…
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) conducted an experiment to investigate the effect of incomplete prices when booking a holiday home. Websites that display incomplete prices cause greater uncertainty, make choosing more difficult, undermine trust and give the feeling of deception compared to websites displaying transparent prices.
Why this experiment was conducted: unclear picture of actual costs
In 2021, the ACM conducted a study into effective transparency. The aim was…
BI Project
Nudging to reduce littering in waste disposal areas – A field experiment in Austria’s community…
Soiled waste disposal areas in municipal public housing buildings are not only a major nuisance for residents, but also cause high cleaning costs. The aim of the present study was to develop behavioral measures to promote cleanliness and to test them in a field experiment with about 400 waste disposal areas. The present paper compares two System-1 (large posters displaying watching eyes and a natural landscape) and two System-2 (financial information, information on normative behavior and…
BETA Survey Series: Towards Net Zero – BETA will conduct a survey series to fill current information gaps and better understand barriers and enablers to making high impact household decisions that limit greenhouse gas emissions.