Blog

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

A Look at Entrepreneurship on International Women’s Day

by ideas42

At ideas42, we’re honoring International Women’s Day this year by taking a look at women entrepreneurs around the world. Globally, 37% of all enterprises are woman-owned. While there’s still progress to be made in reaching 50%, that’s hundreds of millions of women running businesses—generating incomes for their households and bolstering their local communities. Despite this […]

Every Child Reads: Bringing Literacy Home with Behavioral Science

by Cassie Taylor & Pranav Trewn

Strong reading skills are absolutely fundamental for children to succeed, both in school and later in life. Yet a majority of students in the United States are unable to read proficiently by the end of grade school. A number of well-intentioned interventions have tried to tackle this pervasive problem, but remain too difficult to scale, […]

Saving Made Easier with the Financial Health Check

by ideas42

Building a savings cushion is easier said than done. Irregular cash flows and unpredictable expenses make it difficult to determine how much to save. After surveying balances across accounts and projecting future bills, you still have to either make a trip to the bank or navigate an online portal to actually move money into a […]

Would Better Parental Controls Impact Youth Phone Behavior?

by Suman Gidwani & Antonia Violante

If you have a young child in the family, you might have noticed them watching a show on a tablet or playing a game on a phone at your recent holiday party. Kids today become comfortable with digital screens at a very young age. A recently published study found that 97% of U.S. children under […]

21 Million Paths to a More Secure Retirement

by Juan David Robalino & Andrew Fertig

Retirement savings are a serious challenge in Mexico. With a low overall participation in the formal pension system and one of the highest rates of elderly poverty in the region, it is essential for workers to make voluntary savings to ensure their financial health during retirement. Unfortunately, less than 1% of account holders actively save […]

Simple Steps to Take Now that Produce Benefits All Year

by ideas42

We all have big plans for changing our lives at the beginning of a new year, thanks to the fresh start effect. But time moves fast…and reality is probably starting to set in for many people. This may not be the year you become a workout guru, vault your career in a new direction, or […]

Our 5 Favorite Behavioral Insights of 2017

by ideas42

We’ve learned a lot this year. Thankfully, we haven’t uncovered all the strange little quirks in human decision making, so with every passing year, a few more insights come to light. As 2017 comes to a close, we look back at some of the insights that made us think, laugh, cry, and question our own […]

Building Financial Health: There’s an (Unused) App for That

by Maddie Kau & Abigail Kim

Update: the behavioral playbook is now available here.  Cashing a check seems like a simple task. But in practice, it involves many small, hassle-ridden steps that take time and energy: planning when to go, finding a nearby ATM or retail location, remembering to bring the check, traveling to the location, and waiting in line. Fortunately, […]

ideas42 Seminar Series: A Talk with Jack Cao

by ideas42

With the ideas42 Seminar Series, we invite leading scholars to share their insights and what inspires their exploration into human behavior. Our New York office was pleased to host Jack Cao, a 5th year PhD candidate in social psychology at Harvard University. Jack’s research examines the divide between the conscious values we try to uphold and […]