Blog

Thoughts and insights from our work applying behavioral science to social problems.

Wait times and the inspection paradox (Part I)

by Octavio Medina

Wait times matter. They are frustrating, they make it harder to access critical services, and they waste people’s time. What’s more, wait times also disproportionately impact the low-income population, which spends significantly more time lining up in queues. For example, The Economist recently ran an article that used some American Time Use Survey data to suggest that those […]

A Nudge to Reconnect: Boosting College Persistence Rates Among Adult Students in Tennessee

by Katherine Flaschen

This is part of a series of posts about our ongoing partnership with the University of Virginia’s Nudge4 Solutions Lab and the community college systems of Tennessee and Virginia to increase degree attainment among adult students in the U.S. by designing and testing behaviorally informed solutions. Click here to read more about this partnership. In […]

Our Ongoing Commitment to Racial Justice

A year ago, we listed seven concrete ways we would support racial justice in our work, as calls for racial justice rang not only in the United States but around the world. Now, a year later, we are holding ourselves accountable to those commitments, and taking a moment to report on the initial progress we […]

What predicts fraud perception in social assistance programs? (Part I)

by Octavio Medina

Over the past couple of months we’ve been running a few small-scale surveys to better understand people’s attitudes towards poverty and social safety net programs in the United States. This is part of our broader narrative change work, where we’re exploring how and why people hold particular stories and beliefs, and what role these narratives play in policy. We […]

On the Road to Justice: Reducing Fines and Fees for Low-Income Drivers

by Dinardo Rodriguez and Samantha Hammer

High levels of fines and fees imposed by traffic courts have become a major strain on low-income drivers in California. In 2020, Californians had $8.6 billion in delinquent court debt, imposing potentially disastrous economic consequences. These impacts fall disproportionately on people of color, who are both more likely to be low-income and more likely to […]

Reimagining the Workplace with Behavioral Science

by Tina Tchen, TIME's UP Foundation, and Katy Davis, ideas42

  In the past year, nearly 3 million women have left the labor force due to the pandemic and resulting economic recession. At the same time, due to the pandemic, many organizations have adopted new policies regarding work from home and flexible hours, which can positively impact women’s earnings and labor force participation. Now that […]

Three Behavioral Principles for Equity: Lessons from Redesigning WIC Appointment Reminders for Black Families

by Antonia Violante & Moises Roman-Mendoza

Because of the compounding effects of discrimination in our medical, legal, and social services infrastructures, Black mothers and infants in the United States face worse health outcomes than other groups. The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) – which offers stipends for healthy foods and nutrition education – reduces racial disparities in […]

What is Preventing Education Administrators from Using Data in Their Decisions?

by Griffin Smith

Quality education benefits individual learners (the South African term for students in primary schools), economies, and societies at large through increased earnings and economic growth, better health choices, better-functioning institutions and public services, and more. South Africa, among other countries, has sought to better realize these benefits through increased spending on education. However, while South […]

From Aspirations to Action: Behavioral Tactics for Achieving Financial Goals

by ideas42

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many families across America were struggling to make ends meet. But they still have big hopes and dreams today, from getting a car to finding better job opportunities to buying a home. To achieve any of these goals, saving and credit-building are two critical steps toward financial stability and self-determination. […]