Behavioural Insights Projects

A series of controlled randomised experiments was conducted to examine the savings effects for households of three types of energy consumption managers tools: an email + web application, an app installed on a smartphone or tablet and an in-home display. Energy savings could only be established for the in-home display: almost 7% on natural gas and over 2% on electricity consumption. Why this experiment was conducted: The Netherlands' climate targets Energy consumption by Dutch households…

Institution: PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency

How to increase diversity in the police is an unanswered question that has received significant political and media attention. One area of intervention is the recruitment process itself. This study reports the results of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in a police force that was experiencing a disproportionate drop in minority applicants during one particular test. Drawing on insights from the literatures on stereotype threat, belonging uncertainty and values affirmation exercises, we…

Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Team: The People Lab

To help improve the impact of cyber security advice for individuals and small businesses, BETA partnered with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) to design and test different formats of advice. We conducted focus groups and two survey experiments (surveys with embedded randomised controlled trials) to understand whether behavioural insights concepts are effective in shifting people’s intentions to enact safer cyber security practices. We surveyed small and medium business (SMB) owners…

Institution: Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMC)

Team: Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA)

Not all UWV clients who receive unemployment benefit post their CVs on werk.nl. This prevents them from being found or matched for a job. Would it help to send them a reminder to their personal Work Folder as well as a text message? Yes it would: this experiment shows that five times more clients are then prompted to put their CV online, compared to clients who are not sent a reminder. Why this experiment was conducted: missing CVs 25% of jobseekers on unemployment benefit who are asked to post…

Institution: Netherlands Employee Insurance Agency (UWV)

ideas24 partnered with the Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) to better understand the behavioral barriers preventing corn and soybean farmers from adopting cover crops and enrolling in PFI's cover-crop cost-share program. Using what we learned from administrative data, farmer interviews and direct feedback during user-testing, we then jointly designed behaviorally informed communication interventions, which included mailers as well as a farmer referral campaign. To evaluate the potential impact of…

Institution: Ideas42

Team: Ideas42

In the spring of 2021, as COVID-19 vaccines became accessible to the US's general public, ideas42 and the Boston Transportation Department launched the FreeRide pilot program to encourage commuters to use transit (subway and bus) and bike share as they commute to work. The FreeRide program was designed to accomplish three main goals: • Support small businesses and employees who have endured economic hardship during the pandemic. • Shift employees away from single-occupancy vehicle use,…

Institution: Ideas42

Team: Ideas42

PROJECT SUMMARY ideas42 and Busara Center for Behavioral Economics worked with a major bank and telecommunications company in Nigeria to send behaviorally-informed SMS messages to customers to increase their use of mobile bank accounts. IMPACT Effects varied by message and audience; notably, injunctive norm messages led to a 45 percent increase in the number of clients making deposits among females with active accounts, from 0.82% to 1.81%. RESULTS Design ideas42 and the Busara Center for…

Institution: Busara Center for Behavioral Economics

Team: Ideas42

The commercialization of formula milk (FM) began in Argentina at the end of the sixties. This market has grown remarkably since then, in turn, state agencies use LF as a tool to solve or combat low-weight problems in children and who for other reasons need to supplement the diet when milk is not possible exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). The increase in LF consumption is detrimental to breastfeeding (BF). Its introduction generates a vicious circle and dependency that is difficult to reverse…

Institution: Other

Team: Behavioral Sciences and Public Policies Unit

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…

Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Team: The People Lab

Methods Two preregistered randomized controlled trials (N = 253 and N = 674) measured consumption in a lab and the home environment. Cues were salient, labeled stripes that demarcated single portions. Participants were randomized to cue condition or control. Consumption was measured without awareness. Results The main preregistered effect of the visual cue was not statistically significant. There was some variation by subgroup. In Study 1, men were more likely to eat the whole can of potato…

Institution: Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)

Team: ESRI Behavioural Research Unit