The challenges of behavioural insights for effective policy design

Abstract

Behavioural 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.

Moving beyond the obsession with nudging individual behaviour: Towards a broader understanding of Behavioural Public Policy

“…Finally, the ideological strand of criticism needs to be revisited in the light of advanced BPP. In this regard, ‘separating the normative from the positive aspects of behaviourally informed policy design’ (Kuehnhanss, 2018: 19) seems important. Most interviewees are dissatisfied with the politicised and partly ideological zeal with which behavioural insights have been adopted in public policy in recent years.…”

“…For example, while proponents of BPP argue that behavioural science has the potential for a ‘wide-ranging reassessment of public administration’ (Sanders et al., 2018: 4), some political scientists call more modestly for ‘a dialogue about a behavioral approach to public administration’ (Grimmelikhuijsen et al., 2017: 54). Above all, such a dialogue requires a shared understanding of how the policy process should be informed by behavioural insights and how behavioural approaches correspond to existing policies (Kuehnhanss, 2018). In addition, an understanding has to be reached on the policy objectives of BPP.…”

A Behavioral Perspective on Saving Decisions. Empirical Evidence for Policymakers in the European Union

“…Incorporating evidence derived from a BE study into policy‐making can help address the weaknesses associated with the traditional assumptions which are largely inspired by neoclassical thinking in financial markets. BE approaches applied to policy‐making have increasingly gained support and recognition in countries such as the US, Australia and the EU since the financial crisis (Kuehnhanss, ). These approaches have allowed the construction of behavioral tools to help overcome BE biases such as loss aversion in individuals' decision‐making.…”

Nudging in perspectief

“…Deze criteria worden dan als maatstaf gebruikt om de keuze voor een specifiek beleidsinstrument te bepalen en te verantwoorden (Salamon, 2002: 19-24;Fobé et al, 2015: 45-55 (Loer, 2019) de drie traditionele instrumenten effectiever kunnen maken. Gedragsinzichten en beleid optimaal met elkaar te verbinden vereist een grondige kennis van zowel het beleidsproces als van het menselijk gedrag (Kuehnhanss, 2018). De beleidsmaker kijkt via een wetenschappelijke 'gedragslens' naar het volledige beleidsplaatje om de effectiviteit en efficiëntie ervan te verhogen (Ewert, 2020).…”