In another “nudge”, emails or texts were sent to people to remind them to pay their car fines. Payments increased four-fold. Or six-fold if a photo of the vehicle was included in the message.
These are examples of work by Dr David Halpern’s Behavioural Insights Unit, based in the UK Prime Minister’s office at 10 Downing Street. Their job is to tweak policies to take better account of human nature, and thereby improve results. The Unit’s thinking is inspired in part by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, authors of the bestseller “Nudge – Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness”.
I think this is a fascinating topic for the OECD, given its mission to produce “Better Policies for Better Lives”. Why, ask senior OECD officials, do so many policies look good on paper but not have the expected impact? Is the OECD presenting its policy advice in the most effective way?
These are important questions. What works? Can behavioural insights help?
Recently the UK Delegation invited Dr Halpern to the OECD, where he presented his work to a packed auditorium. OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan joined us and “challenged the OECD to integrate behavioural thinking into its policy design”.
Unsurprisingly we found there are a lot of smart people already thinking about these issues at the OECD. But work is still at an early stage and lessons need to be shared across the organisation.
Wherever you live and work, please share your ideas.