Suchergebnisse

Over the last decade, the development of cognitive and behavioural sciences has determined the diffusion of the concept and methodology of behavioural insights into social sciences, including the governance sphere. Behavioural teams worldwide participate in developing and implementing the strategies at various levels of governance organisation. The aim of this study is to investigate the institutionalisation process of behavioural insights into public policy. The study has identified the agentive determinants of the institutionalisation efficiency that include: the competence level of public servants, their motivation level, resistance to change and the nature of feedback. It is argued that the approval level of using behavioural insights by civil servants is a prerequisite for their intrinsic motivation, which has a positive effect on the efficiency of institutionalisation of behavioural insights in public policy. The survey has revealed the most approved directions for using behavioural techniques in public policy in Ukraine.

AbstractMuch of political science rests on assumptions about how policy makers and citizens behave. However, questions remain about how public policy can improve the government–citizen relationship. In this research note, we present behavioural insights (BI) as one way to address this gap. First, we argue that BI can be strategically used both to alleviate administrative burdens and to enhance citizen experience. Second, we argue that BI interventions can assist in several stages of the policy process, strengthening causal inferences about policy efficacy. Third, we present original data from Canada's ongoing experimentation with BI across multiple jurisdictions and areas of public policy. We conclude by acknowledging the myriad pathways through which BI research can engage with public policy to support the enhancement of citizen-oriented service delivery.

Abstract1In this paper, we examine consultation procedures in the light of behavioural sciences. We feature consultation as a dialogue between the administration and the participants in the form of a public good game with one or more tournaments. Our focus is on the architecture of the dialogue and its design. We propose three models characterised by the varying degrees of the interaction among participants, and between participants and the administration, occurring during the consultation process. We suggest that mapping stakeholders according to homogeneity of interest influences the structure and affects the dialogue taking place during the consultation process. We then examine the levels of efforts parties would engage in, defining models that maximise efforts and adjust for different cognitive stakeholders' capabilities, advocating an empirical approach. The paper concludes with policy recommendations on how to improve the current consultation design deployed at EU and national level.

This paper investigates traditional and new tools for increasing the effectiveness of rules and enforcement strategies. As a preliminary concern, it underlines that there are two sides to effectiveness that cannot be approached separately: effectiveness as perfect compliance with the terms of rules, and effectiveness as a result of rules which incentivise behaviours to meet the "spirit of the law". In order to achieve this comprehensive approach to effectiveness, rules must be evidence-based, plain, understandable and accepted. Moreover, a clear understanding of compliance drivers is needed. Deterrence and all other possible motivations that go beyond the rational calculus should be assessed by decision-makers, such as internal motivation, procedural fairness, cooperation, social norms, heuristics and bias. Enriching the rationality assumption with other drivers of compliance does not mean dismissing traditional rules or enforcement tools, which conversely remain crucial for the purpose of supporting voluntary compliance and for preventing non-compliance. However, deterrence should be calibrated by a risk-based, responsive and proportional approach to (simplified) rules and enforcement strategies. Trust in public authorities, supportive and cooperative public administrations are also fundamental in order to increase voluntary compliance, and a cognitive-based approach should complement these views.

AbstractThe Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) has led in the promotion and adoption of behavioural science research in public policy. This comment addresses a number of issues that must be faced by BIT and the wider behavioural public policy agenda as the field becomes institutionalised and normalised within public policy internationally, in particular issues of ethics and professional codes.

The authors identify three challenges to global cooperation and propose three solutions. The first is the lack of integration of civil society into global governance. In the spirit of Ostrom's poly-centric governance, they propose stronger interaction between public international authorities, including the G20, and civil society. The second is the reliance of economic policy on a model of human behaviour based on self-interest and instrumental rationality. The authors propose on the contrary to ground policies on behavioural evidence, and to increase cooperation between academic institutions active in this field worldwide. The third is the recognition that the spread of divisive narratives, which emphasize demarcations across national or religious lines, hinders global cooperation. Alternative narratives should be produced within a transformative process involving responsible leaders, decision-makers, experts, and civil society.

In recent years, public agencies have frequently deployed behavioural insights to generate benefits for society, through encouraging citizens to comply with official requests, and more generally encouraging them to cooperate with public agencies to help deliver outcomes of collective benefit. In parallel, there has been a large increase in the amount and quality of the research evidence available on behavioural public policy. This review takes two contrasting areas where behavioural insights have been used: tax collection where government policy is compulsory (i.e. requiring compliance), and energy use where social objectives are non-compulsory, and achieved more by persuasion and encouragement. Processes of modifying and changing behaviour require different approaches whether the change is deemed necessary by the state or not. In taxes, the sole use of enforcement is rarely efficacious, whereas increasing the uncertainty of follow-up and audit increases compliance. Offering discounts for energy bills appears to be an effective method for achieving cooperation. However, the use of social norms and increased information and professional advice is effective for both compulsory and non-compulsory areas of compliance and cooperation. This has important implications for policymakers, who may be seeking effective methods of encouraging behaviour change. While there are differences in approaches for compulsory and non-compulsory areas of policy, there may be areas that move from non-statutory to statutory in the future. In this case, the development of desired social norms appears to be the most effective method of ensuring overall compliance.

Behavioural insights can help policy makers obtain a deeper understanding of the behavioural mechanisms contributing to environmental problems, and design and implement more effective policy interventions. This report reviews recent developments in the application of behavioural insights to encourage more sustainable consumption, investment and compliance decisions by individuals and firms. Drawing on interventions initiated by ministries and agencies responsible for environment and energy, as well as cross-government behavioural insights teams, it portrays how behavioural sciences have been integrated into the policy-making process. The report covers a variety of policy areas: energy, water and food consumption, transport and car choice, waste management and resource efficiency, compliance with environmental regulation and participation in voluntary schemes. It shows what has proven to work – and what has not – in policy practice in OECD countries and beyond.

AbstractBehavioural insights are becoming increasingly popular with policy practitioners. Findings and methods originally provided by cognitive psychology and later behavioural economics have found use in the formulation of public policies. Their most popularised application has emerged under the auspices of libertarian paternalism in the form of 'nudging'. Its proponents claim to provide a new instrument to facilitate the formulation of effective and evidence-based policy, taking people's actual behaviour into account from the outset, while preserving their liberty to choose. This article reviews the origins of libertarian paternalism and the behavioural insights it builds on and takes a critical look at the foundations nudging relies on as a policy tool. It also discusses the ongoing efforts to build policy capacity to integrate behavioural insights and experimental methods in the creation of public policy. Behavioural insights offer a powerful tool to reshape and design new evidence-based policy. However, designers ought to be aware of the underlying assumptions on individual behaviour, the broadness of the mandate the nudging approach claims and the challenges they pose for design effectiveness.

AbstractThe paper contributes towards filling a 'blind spot' in the field of climate finance by investigating the role of climate finance for behavioural insights in developing countries. The evidence review synthesises 71 high‐quality studies and focuses on clean fuel adoption and household energy‐saving behaviour in developing countries. The synthesis finds that there is a need for climate finance from developed countries that is more targeted towards interventions and measures that support household decision‐making in developing countries by engaging with stakeholders that understand local attitudes, constraints and knowledge levels governing the perception of health and environmental risks associated with energy‐consuming technologies.

The diversity of knowledge surrounding behavioural insights (BI) means in the policy sciences, although visible, remains under-theorized with scant comparative and generalizable explorations of the procedural prerequisites for their effective design, both as stand-alone tools and as part of dedicated policy 'toolkits'. While comparative analyses of the content of BI tools has proliferated, the knowledge gap about the procedural needs of BI policy design is growing recognizably, as the range of BI responses grows in practice necessitating specific capabilities, processes and institutional frameworks to be in place for their design. This Element draws on the literature on policy design and innovation adoption to explore the administrative, institutional and capacity endowments of governments for the successful and appropriate integration of BI in existing policy frameworks. Further, we present three illustrative cases with respect to their experience of essential procedural endowments facilitating for the effective integration of BI in policy design.