Blog

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

How Can Behavioral Science Help People Find Decent Work?

by Jessica Jean-Francois

Aside from providing us with wages and spending power, work is a vehicle for social cohesion, aspirations for growth and a feeling of self-worth. In a world where 95% of the total labor force is technically employed, it can be hard to believe that as many as 300 million people have paid work but live […]

Tackling the Great Smog in India

by Preeti Anand

  Every year, during the months of October and November, India’s National Capital Region (NCR) is engulfed in unusually thick layers of smog that disrupt day-to-day life. The area effectively slows to a crawl, with intermittent school closures, flight disruptions, construction bans, restricted driving rules and city-wide water sprinkling all commonplace. Outdoor activities are replaced […]

Can Behavioral Science Help College Students with Children Graduate?

by Cassie Taylor

Without a doubt, college degrees remain key to economic mobility and well-being in the U.S. Getting a college degree opens up new career possibilities and helps people earn more income over their lifetimes. Yet far too many aspiring graduates never obtain the degrees they are seeking, which leaves them without the benefit of the degree […]

CityNudge Accelerator Update: What We’ve Learned, Where We’re Going

by Cecilia Shang

At a World Bank summit in 2015, in a room of mayors from cities across Latin America, we presented the results of a behavioral intervention run in partnership with the city of Belén, Costa Rica that reduced household water consumption by leveraging the power of social norms and plan-making tools. The mayor of Belén explained […]

Nepal’s Transition to Federalism: A Behavioral Approach

by Saugato Datta, Aditya Jagati, Susanti Vijaykumar, Carolyn O'Donnell, & Binayak Basnyat

This piece originally appeared on InAsia. On a rainy evening in Kathmandu not long ago, we fell into a conversation with Bahadur Sherpa, a 60-year-old laborer, who recalled the ecstatic mood of 2017’s historic local elections. He said he had reached his local polling place, a school, at 6:00 a.m. to find hundreds of expectant […]

How Does Breakthrough RESEARCH’s Work Respond to Practitioner Priorities?

by Abigail Sellman

This piece originally appeared on Breakthrough ACTION+RESEARCH’s blog.  In October, I had the privilege of attending the first annual CORE Group Global Health Practitioner Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. This year’s conference theme was “Leverage, Link, and Learn for Community Health.” The event was attended by dozens of individuals from organizations working in community health across sub-Saharan Africa […]

13 Ways Behavioral Science Improved Lives in 2019

by ideas42

  Each year, the behavioral science community expands our knowledge about humans and decision-making and builds evidence for how to use behavioral science to improve lives. This rapidly growing community is made up of brilliant researchers, dedicated practitioners who apply behavioral science in their work solving problems, pioneering organizations that fund behavioral innovation around the […]

Nonvoter Innovation Lab: Leveraging 2018 Midterm Success to GOTV in 2020

by Moises Roman-Mendoza, Antonia Violante, & Maya Alper

It would be an understatement to anyone who reads the news or logs on to social media platforms to say that the 2020 presidential election is top of mind for many Americans. What isn’t so clear, however, is whether or not people will channel that energy into turning out to vote next November. With nearly […]

“Public Charge” Rule (Pure Sludge) Already Reduced Social Safety Net Access

by Jeremy Barofsky, Allison Yates-Berg & Ariadna Vargas

  The Trump Administration’s expanded “public charge” rule was set to begin on October 15th before being temporarily blocked by a federal judge only days before going into effect. If implemented, the rule would withhold green cards from immigrants who use common social safety net programs such as Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income […]

ideas42 Seminar Series: A Talk with Rebecca Ratner

by ideas42

With the ideas42 Seminar Series, we invite leading scholars to share their insights and what inspires their exploration into human behavior. We were pleased to host Rebecca Ratner, the Dean’s Professor of Marketing at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Her research explores the factors underlying suboptimal consumer decision making and […]