Behavioural Insights Projects

In regions marked by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV), entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face increased risk of experiencing chronic stress and poor mentalhealth. In turn, this can lead to poor psychological outcomes, hamper their business performance,and weaken the benefits of existing financial and business assistance programs. The World Bank’s Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation (FCI) Global Practice, in collaboration with the Mind, Behavior, and…

Institution: World Bank

Team: eMBeD, Mind Behaviour and Development team

As rewards increasingly become an instrument used by policymakers, it is important to find a reward mechanism that does not crowd out intrinsic motivation, is long lasting, and has positive spillover effects on third parties. A policy innovation introduced by the Municipality of Santa Fe (Argentina) allowed us to evaluate different mechanisms for rewarding tax compliance – participation in a lottery (financial motive), public recognition (moral channel), and provision of a visible and durable…

Institution: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Team: IDB Behavioral Economics Group

Challenge Students in low-income districts are less likely to sign up to take the Gifted and Talented (G&T) admissions test than their peers in higher-income districts. As a result, fewer students from low-income districts test into and attend G&T programs that could improve educational outcomes and provide meaningful opportunities. To the extent that the city may use sign-up rates as an indicator of demand, and thus where additional G&T programs should be located, low sign-up rates can mean…

Institution: NYC Mayorship

Team: The NYC Behavioral Design Team - ideas42

PROJECT SUMMARY Text messages were delivered to parents of children from 3 to 5 years old enrolled in public preschools in Uruguay using a government mobile app. These messages targeted malleable factors producing students’ absences and sought to influence parent’s attitudes and beliefs about preschool attendance to increase children’s presence in the classroom. IMPACT Children in remote areas increased attendance by 1.5 days, suggesting an increase in cognitive development of 0.20 SD.…

Institution: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Team: IDB Behavioral Economics Group

In early 2022, various kinds of text messages were sent to over 100,000 residents of Brabant-Zuidoost who had not yet received a booster jab from the GGD. The results show that the most effective variant − in the 6 days after receiving the text message − led to a 3.2% increase in the number of vaccinations administered. This was the text message saying 'Jouw boosterprik ligt voor je klaar' (You can now book your booster vaccination) plus a randomly allocated date, time and location. Why…

Institution: Netherlands Public Health Service

In Indonesia, as in other countries, a large proportion of tax returns are filed at the last minute. In a population-wide randomised controlled trial (n = 11,157,069), we evaluated the impact of behavioural email prompts on the proportion of annual tax returns filed at least two weeks before the deadline; and overall filing rate. In two control conditions, taxpayers either received no email or an email used in prior years, emphasising regulatory information. The five treatments informed by…

Institution: Other

- There is need for organ donors. - According to public opinion polls, approximately 84% of Canadians support organ and tissue donation but only 43% report to have registered.[1,2] - In British Columbia, Canada, Internal operational data indicates that, between 2016 and 2017, 24,303 organ donation registrations took place through Service BC centres. This number dropped to 14,860 in 2019. - Considering these circumstances, Service BC has partnered with the BC Behavioural Insights Group to develop…

Institution: British Columbia Behavioural Insights Group (BC BIG)

Team: British Columbia Behavioural Insights Group (BC BIG)

The project’s goal was to increase voter turnout among potential voters: registered voters who participated in one or fewer primary elections since 2000. Voting is a high-salience, socially important behavior that is essential to a functioning democratic society. While campaigns and organizations spend millions of dollars to increase voter turnout, recent research suggests that simple interventions like facilitating plan-making can help people follow through on their intentions.

Institution: Harvard Kennedy School

Team: Behavioural Insights Group

Home Energy Label

Institution: Impact and Innovation Hub (IIU)- Impact Canada

Team: Behavioural Science Team

A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was conducted at seven of Amel’s community centers to improve the performance of students sitting for Cycle I exams. The trial consisted of a short activity that comprised of a ranking exercise whereby they have to rank a list of 10 values from most of least important to them, followed by a drawing exercise in which they have to visualize their number 1 value [9]. Both exercises were completed by students right before sitting for their exams.

Institution: Nudge Lebanon

Team: Nudge Lebanon