Blog

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

Five Behaviorally Informed Ideas for Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health

by ideas42

Behavioral science has the power to catalyze progress across the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) sector. Over the last decade, our Global Health team has worked on more than 250 projects in over 30 low-and middle-income countries applying behavioral science to programs across the ecosystem. From reducing provider bias during contraceptive counseling to boosting male […]

Combatting Negative Self-Perception to Increase Youth Employment: Evidence from an Egyptian Labor Program

by Bradley Noble and Catherine MacLeod

Stable employment and career opportunities are critical components of development, but many people living in developing countries still lack access to them. To combat this, countries institute labor programs to match job seekers with employers, but too often these programs fail to design for the context in which job seekers actually behave. As a result, […]

Putting Communities First: How AI Can Revolutionize Local Governance

by Ariadna Vargas and Jeremy Barofsky

Memphis, Tennessee, is often the subject of negative media attention, particularly when it comes to crime and poverty. However, after working for months with local non-profit organizations as part of our Narrative Change work, we were able to confirm what residents of the city have always known—that there is so much more to Memphis than […]

6 Behavioral Science Principles Critical for Effective Family Planning Programs

by ideas42

Unintended pregnancies are a persistent global challenge with significant health, financial, and social consequences that disproportionately impact those with the least. Despite significant strides in increasing the availability of contraceptive services, 49% (111 million) of all pregnancies are unintended each year in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), preventing women from having the opportunity to choose […]

Uncovering Hidden Biases in ChatGPT’s Written Content–and Preventing Them from Exacerbating Existing Inequalities

by Ariadna Vargas, Jeremy Barofsky, Miranda Allegar, Erik Simmons, and Maheen Shermohammed

ChatGPT is a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tool that has the potential to revolutionize the way we produce written content. We may very soon see writers using it as their own personal assistants to generate ideas, publishers using it to generate content effortlessly, and programmers using it to write pieces of code quickly.  However, the […]

Refining Solutions for Supporting Facility-Based Delivery in Liberia

by Allison Schachter and Sara Flanagan

For many rural low-income pregnant women in Liberia, the ability to deliver at a health facility is riddled with barriers. While they may intend to deliver their baby at a health facility and believe it’s the safest place to give birth, it often requires extensive planning and saving, from determining when and how to leave […]

Policy Lab: The Harms of Unwinding Automatic Medicaid Coverage

by Amanda Kaplan and Kelli Garcia

March 7, 2023 Beginning April 1, 2023, people enrolled in Medicaid will have to renew their coverage for the first time in three years. During the federally-declared COVID-19 public health emergency, people did not have to renew their Medicaid coverage. This continuous coverage ensured families had consistent access to health care. As a result, Medicaid […]

Want to Get Healthier but Don’t Know Where to Start? Try Microbehaviors

by Arielle Gorstein

How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? Here are 10 “microbehaviors” to keep your health goals on track. If you made a health-related New Year’s resolution this year, you’re not alone; health-focused resolutions make up the top three most common goals, year after year. And if you’re still going strong, congratulations! You’re in […]

Behavioral Science Can Still Surprise Us

by ideas42

To those looking in on the scientific process, it can often seem like a tidy operation of nicely measured ingredients and serene labs. Researchers and journalists tell the story of this work from idea to insight as relatively linear. Whether or not they arrived in the same place they expected, this can feel like the […]