Behavioral Economics Policy Impact and Future Directions (2023) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
14 Advancing the Field of Behavioral Economics
14 Advancing the Field of Behavioral Economics
Pages 213-224
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 213... ...
CONCLUSIONS We draw two primary conclusions from our review: that behavioral knowledge is indispensable to the development of effective policy interventions and that work is needed to support intervention design and broadscale implementation. Developing Effective Policy Interventions Foundational theoretical work that has integrated understanding of cognitive and psychosocial processes with economic analysis has pointed to five core principles that help to explain human decision making: limited 213
|
From page 214... ...
Nevertheless, the accumulated evidence across the six domains is significant: it shows that decision processes are dynamic, malleable, and context dependent and that understanding these factors helps to explain how and why people behave in ways that appear to be counter to rational calculations. That evidence from research in behavioral economics demonstrates that those behavioral decision processes recur repeatedly and have significant impact on policy-relevant behavior, which in turn has strong implications for policies that differ from those that are suggested by traditional economics.
|
From page 215... ...
Supporting Design and Implementation The evidence for the importance of behavioral ideas is strong, but the refinement of strategies for applying these principles in a systematic way to the design of policies and interventions remains a frontier challenge. There is clear and strong evidence that specific interventions based on these principles have been effective at changing certain targeted behaviors, and it is also clear that behavioral economics research has contributed to a large and expanding set of policy interventions that includes strategies with excellent empirical evidence of effectiveness (e.g., defaults, framing)
|
From page 216... ...
Throughout the report we also identify additional persistent challenges in the application of behavioral economics for policy: it is not easy or straightforward to generalize findings from specific contexts, and implementing successful interventions at scale remains elusive. Moreover, deeper understanding of why and when observed effects occur would be valuable.
|
From page 217... ...
Recommendation 14-1: Researchers and funders of research should balance attention and funding across: • basic research in intervention design, interdisciplinary investi gation, and development of methods; • research to support applications of behavioral economics con cepts in practice, including implementation and scale-up and evaluation; and • research to explore and support the positive contributions of behavioral economics to society, including attention to equity of impact and attitudes about behavioral interventions. Recommendation 14-2: Funders and university leaders should prioritize investments in interdisciplinary research collaborations.
|
From page 218... ...
This phase of the research -- scaling studies that involve patience and resources -- is essential for behavioral tools to bring meaningful societal benefits. Many social science disciplines and policy domains emphasize the importance of systems of ongoing evaluation, in which research, design and development, testing of ideas, and evaluation each contribute to a continuous cycle of learning and refinement and improvement of policy interventions (see, e.g., Patton, Sawicki, & Clark, 2012)
|
From page 219... ...
Recommendation 14-5: Researchers, funders of research, and entities that support or sponsor behavioral units in organizations should pri oritize ongoing investigations into the role of behavioral economics in society, with specific attention to the equity implications of behavioral economics policies and interventions; the implications of public atti tudes toward the ethics of behavioral economics research and practice, as well as their acceptance by the general public; and possible public policy interest in commercial applications of behavioral economics findings. It was not part of our charge to identify priorities for the specific policy goals that should be addressed using behavioral economics approaches, but three issues in policy implementation raise broad questions: equity of impact, attitudes about interventions, and commercial application of behaviorally based findings.
|
From page 220... ...
While it is not the job of behavioral economics researchers to police the applications of their ideas, they might profitably explore such understudied questions as how behavioral ideas are being used, how consumer responses may vary across business and policy domains, and when marketing that takes advantage of knowledge of biases crosses an ethical line. All human decision making is influenced by the context in which those decisions are made.
|
From page 221... ...
This analysis can be applied beyond the context of the individual behaviors that are the focus of most behavioral economics research to help explain nonrational responses to complex regulatory structures, for example. That is, there may be behavioral solutions to problems that are not primarily the result of individual behavioral biases, such as the externalities that are such important considerations in combating climate change.
|
From page 222... ...
. A national strategy to reduce food waste at the consumer level.
|
From page 223... ...
. Psychological inoculation improves resilience against misinformation on social media.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.