Behavioral Insights for Public Policy: Concepts and Cases

https://www.routledge.com/Behavioral-Insights-for-Public-Policy-Concepts-and-Cases/Ruggeri/p/book/9781138484238 The first decades of the 21st century have offered a remarkable shift in how policies are made as well as who designs them. Until this period, advisory boards for local, regional, and national policy strategies largely comprised economists, lawyers, and financial experts. These panels made recommendations based on standing theory and, in some cases, subject-matter expertise, such as energy or healthcare. What has changed is how the behavioral sciences, largely psychology, have been embraced within these groups, thanks largely to extensive evidence from empirical research in how populations save, spend, eat, exercise, and work. While the application to policy may have contemporary versions, the behavioral side of economic theory itself is not new. Relevant insights on this go at least as far back as the 18th century with Daniel Bernoulli and Adam Smith, and continued steadily over the next two centuries with significant works from the likes of Wilhelm Wundt, Herbert Simon, and Roald Coase, among many others. However, how it came to be is perhaps more critical than merely who drove it. In each of these waves, a major shift in thinking was often preceded by empirical study that either attempted to explain how humans apply logic, or by surprising deviations from what appears to be rational. This textbook covers a range of topics from the origins of policy through to how recent advances in theory and practice have shifted our thinking on outcomes for society. Each section, including the fundamentals of behavioral sciences, policy development and evaluation, and all of the domains – economic, health, energy, education, workplace – cover examples of how behavioral insights are being used to address some of the most critical challenges we face. The cases and concepts presented in this book demonstrate the considerable value, both realized and potential, in studying as well as implementing behavioral insights into a variety of policy domains. We are still very much in the early days of this field, which means that these are merely fundamentals for educating and inspiring future generations of researchers, policymakers, and government leaders. As progress continues, how ultimate goals relevant to society are defined and targeted will become an increasingly important refrain amongst those involved in developing them. In these ways, we can consistently align our approaches with the most critical matters of local, national, and global communities: our safety, our stability, and our well-being.

DOI: 10.4324/9781351052542