Challenge
The City of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania offers a discount to low-income senior citizens living in the municipality on their water bills. Senior water and sewer customers can apply to receive 25 percent off their payments for water in an effort to reduce the financial burden on those elderly citizens with lesser means.
However, despite the fact that this would benefit the citizens in question, the City of Philadelphia noticed that many low-income seniors eligible for the discount were…
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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BI Project
Energy savings achieved with energy consumption managers: what impacts does feedback have on…
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…
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is preparing to deliver the next Census of Population and Housing (the Census) in 2021. BETA has partnered with the ABS to make it easier and more convenient for people to engage with the Census process.
Normative messages have been shown to increase intention to do physical activity. Positive normative message say that most people like you are physically active. Negative normative message say that most people like you are NOT physically active. The study traces how “positive” and “negative” normative messages influence physical activity intention.
BI Project
Correcting Misperceptions About Trends and Norms to Address Weak Collective Action – Experimental…
Finding ways to encourage collective action in contexts where only a minority adopts the desired behaviour is central to solving many of today's global environmental problems. We study how correcting people's beliefs about social norms and behavioural trends encourages collective action in a setting where the desired behaviour is not yet prevalent. In a field experiment, we test whether low sign-up rates for a municipal recycling program in urban Peru can be increased by providing information…
BI Project
Safer road behaviour on N36 provincial road: how can a campaign targeting road users prevent…
Rijkswaterstaat conducted a behavioural campaign aimed at urging drivers on the N36 provincial road in Overijssel to keep a safe distance, to be calm and relaxed while driving and to pay attention to the road. The campaign achieved a reduction in distractions, less irritation and an overall improved driving experience.
Why this experiment was conducted: many serious accidents on N36
The spotlight has been on the N36 between Hardenberg/Ommen and Almelo/ Wierden for some time due to the frequent,…
To better learn about the U.S. General Services Administration’s USAGov email audience, a bilingual survey was developed to include questions on preferred topics, preferred frequency of email communications, utility of emails, and audience demographics. USAGov sought to learn more about their email audience through the survey and by using behavioral insights to increase survey response.
SEAI is conducting a monthly behavioural tracking survey to track everyday energy-related behaviours (home energy use and travel) in Ireland. The survey is being run to support ongoing government communications around the current energy crisis. We will run the survey over a given week (7-10 days) each month on a nationally representative adult sample. It is expected that the survey will run for 13 iterations initially.
In order to capture an accurate snapshot of current energy-related…
While potential voters may register and intend to vote, many registered voters ultimately do not participate in elections. In addition, previous studies have not addressed how the impact of the text messages may vary among causal voters compared to habitual voters. Casual voters are defined as those who had previously only voted in the presidential election or major elections. Habitual voters are defined as those who have a higher propensity to vote (in this case, those who voted in each of the…
BI Project
Redesigning the Mortgage Statement and its Impact on Consumers Mortgage Purchase Decisions:…
Chilean mortgage loan market is characterized by debtors' limited understanding of financial information an low level of loans' renegotiation. As a result, there is a high risk that consumers are missing benefits from economic opportunities. That's why Chilean financial institutions must, by law, send to their customers every three months, a Mortgage Statement designed by the regulator.
This policy paper is an executive summary of a study that shows qualitative and quantitative evidence about…