Behavioural Insights Projects

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…

Institution: Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS)

Team: Insight Austria

The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia collaborated with the World Bank on a holistic review of the country's tax system, an input to the design of a new, improved tax strategy. The State Revenue Service (SRS), Latvia's tax authority, worked with the Mind, Behavior, and Development (eMBeD) Unit at the World Bank to pilot a field experiment to increase tax compliance. The experiment involved sending preemptive, behaviorally-informed email messages to taxpayers with a share of income…

Institution: World Bank

Team: eMBeD, Mind Behaviour and Development team

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…

Institution: World Bank

Team: eMBeD, Mind Behaviour and Development team

In partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Office of Behavioural Science (BeSciO), the Privy Council Office’s Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU) has launched a multi-wave public opinion research survey to better understand public health challenges in Canada. The 'Health, Attitudes, and Behavioural Insights Trends' (HABIT) survey, combines research methods from the field of behavioural science (BeSci) with robust policy analysis to help inform government policies, programs, and…

Institution: Privy Council Office

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)

Government agencies around the world struggle to retain frontline workers, as high job demands and low job resources contribute to persistently high rates of employee burnout. Although four decades of research have documented the predictors and potential costs of frontline worker burnout, we have limited causal evidence on strategies that reduce it. In this article, we report on a multicity field experiment (n = 536) aimed at increasing perceived social support and affirming belonging among 911…

Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Team: The People Lab

Cambridgeshire Constabulary has noted that 1,650 hate incidents were reported within Cambridgeshire between 1st December 2019 and 28th February 2021 and the vast majority of reported incidents (1,344) were racially-based. The data indicates that since the pandemic (March 2020), incidents of Hate crime have increased for people with the following protected characteristics: disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, race, religion. These groups are already disproportionately adversely impacted by COVID-19…

Institution: Local Government Association

Team: Local Government Association

BETA partnered with the Australian Energy Regulator to apply behavioural insights to the design of energy bills. We conducted a literature review to identify key research questions. We used 2 online samples involving over 6,300 and 7,800 Australians, respectively to a survey and 6 randomised controlled trials (survey experiments). They investigated the possibility of cognitive overload, and the impact of various bill components on comprehension and intentions.

Institution: Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMC)

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

In 2015 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released recommendations to move towards impact-based weather forecasts and warnings. These impact-based warnings will help increase lead-time for decision makers and the public, to ensure they are making the best choices to prepare for different types of weather events. Canada is currently in the process of adopting these recommendations by moving towards an impact-based tiered warning system for severe weather events. To assist in the…

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

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)

To reduce the speed of motor vehicles on the Yarze highway, Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with the Traffic Management Centre (TMC), placed a salient image of overlooking eyes, coupled with a message informing drivers that their speed was being monitored on a Variable Message Sign (VMS). Vehicles in treatment time slots, with speeds above 100km/h reduced their speed by around 11.5% compared to similar vehicles in the control group. Moreover, compared to the control group, the treatment was more…

Institution: Nudge Lebanon

Team: Nudge Lebanon

The Ontario Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) is responsible for paying Ontario Public Service (OPS) employees on a bi-weekly basis. The Pay and Benefits Service Centre inboxes receive a large volume of documents. Pay and Benefits transactions are processed according to Pay Processing Deadlines and Pay and Benefits Service Priorities. Each month, OPS employees are required to confirm their attendance in the OPS Human Resources system (WIN System) for the previous month, and managers are…

Institution: Ontario Public Service (OPS)

Team: Ontario Behavioural Insights Unit