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.

Number of BI projects:
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Legend: Projects status
- Pre-registered project
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BI Project
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…
In Turkey, the years between 2012 and 2017 saw a steadily rising labor force participation rate but also unemployment. New workers, including women and youth, joined those already in the market increasing the competition for available jobs. At the same time, employers, reported difficulties finding workers with appropriate workplace competencies when filling vacancies, particularly when it came to job-related behaviors. The Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) and the World Bank teamed up to test…
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…
Challenge
Kosovo is the youngest country in Europe and faces the challenges of creating a government and setting up systems to generate funds needed to invest and develop. In 2018, only 47% of taxpayers made even a partial payment towards their due taxes. The consequences of low tax compliance and late repayment are two-fold. Individuals accumulate debt, interest, and fines from nonpayment which also prevents them from purchasing homes or registering vehicles until these debts are paid. On the…
This research shows that teacher and administration absences can negatively affect students’ reading and math abilities.Working with the Peruvian Ministry of Education (MINEDU) and the UK’s Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), we tested whether attendance could be influenced by sending different behaviorally informed messages by email. One email message conveyed the current level of attendance of one’s school district the “social norm” while the other built on teachers’ pro-social…
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.
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…
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.
Challenge
Tax delinquencies are a major problem for most tax administrations in the world. In Colombia, the National Accountant Office estimated the total outstanding debt to the National Tax Agency at $2.5 billion, which represents about 20 percent of estimated total tax evasion in 2014. Finding ways to reduce tax delinquencies is critical for both fiscal and equity considerations. A previous study compared messages about due liabilities delivered through three channels (letter, email, or…
Behaviorally informed messages have had demonstrated success in increasing tax compliance in multiple regional settings. In Indonesia, which has the largest economy in Southeast Asia, a trial from the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) and World Bank teams looked at whether behaviorally informed messages and materials can impact tax compliance and payment rates among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The results showed, to get delinquent firms to pay their taxes, information is not enough -…