Behavioural Insights Projects

In an effort to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates, mobile vaccination units were rolled out in late 2021. This strategy proved successful: the number of vaccinations administered was between 1.1 and 14.5 times higher in neighbourhoods on the days they were visited by mobile units. The units were more effective in rural areas than in urban settings. In addition, they proved to be more effective than average in neighbourhoods with a higher proportion of SGP voters and still effective, although to a…

The Government of Canada wants to support the transition from home heating based on fossil fuels (e.g., natural gas) to electric heat pumps. Here, we wanted to test different ways of framing the advantages of heat pumps and assess the benefit of providing a step-by-step guide to getting a heat pump.

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

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)

The Ontario Public Service (OPS) is committed to promoting employment equity. Collecting sociodemographic data from employees will help the OPS better understand how different demographic groups are represented in the workforce and progress through their careers. However, recent initiatives to promote the voluntary submission of sociodemographic data through the OPS Human Resources portal (known as WIN) has had lower uptake than desired, reducing the quality of this data for decision-making…

Institution: Ontario Public Service (OPS)

Team: Ontario Behavioural Insights Unit

Previous research by the Program of Applied Research on Climate Action and the Environment (PARCA) team has found that Canadians generally display poor understanding of the relative impacts of different pro-climate actions and have gaps in their understanding of climate change. Following up on these findings, a randomized controlled survey-experiment was conducted in December 2023 to test the impact of several behaviourally-informed interventions on climate literacy outcomes. Results suggested…

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

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)

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

Overall, this research investigated how to enhance the effectiveness of multi-stakeholder collaboration in tackling climate change. By leveraging two socio-psychological theories – Self-Affirmation Theory (SAT) and Moral Foundations Theory (MFT),this study equipped facilitators with strategies to reduce identity threats, foster constructive dialogs, and ultimately contribute to the development of more effective solutions in the environmental domain.

Institution: Other

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.

Institution: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

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

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.

Institution: European Commission

Team: JRC Competence Centre on Behavioural Insights

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…

Institution: Servicio Nacional del Consumidor (SERNAC)

Team: Servicio Nacional del Consumidor (SERNAC)

Repairability of laptop computers: the Behavioral Sciences team of the interministerial department for transformation is piloting a study on the display of an index intended to clarify consumer choice. The objective: to support the General Commission for Sustainable Development (CGDD) in the implementation of this new tool.

Institution: Direction Interministérielle de la Transformation Publique (DITP)

Team: Equipe Sciences Comportementales