Education

Project Update: Joining with Three New Partners to Improve Postsecondary Success

Over the past several months, ideas42 engaged in a competitive ‘Request for Problems’ process to gather the most pressing behavioral problems in the postsecondary education sector. The team received 56 applications from a variety of organizations, including four-year institutions, non-profits, national networks, high schools, and education technology start-ups. The problems submitted fell across the postsecondary […]

New White Paper: The Power of Heuristics

People are presented with many choices throughout their day, from what to have for lunch to where to go on vacation to how much money to save for emergencies. In many situations, this ability to choose enhances our lives. However, having too many choices can sometimes feel like a burden, especially if the choices are […]

Can Students Be Nudged to Get the Most Out of a College Education?

Why would anyone choose not to go to college? According to the US Census Bureau, college graduates earn almost twice as much as those with only a high school diploma over the course of their lifetime, and are significantly more likely to be employed. But the reality is that not everyone finds it easy to make the most […]

What Behavioral Economics Is Not

Since the release of 2008′s Nudge, behavioral economics (BE) has quietly invaded the public’s perception. Some of the most well-known examples include the creation of the Behavioral Insights Teamin the UK, Cass Sunstein’s appointment in the Obama Administration, and the rise of popular economics books like Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow (and to a […]

Further Resources: Postsecondary Request for Problems Q&A

ideas42 recently hosted a webinar about our Request for Problems in postsecondary education. The RFP process is the first step towards a great opportunity to partner with ideas42 in solving behavioral problems in the postsecondary space. For the recording of the webinar and a list of frequently asked questions, please see below. PSE Webinar FAQ

An Opportunity to Partner on Postsecondary Success

To teenagers, choosing whether to study for next week’s history test instead of hanging out with friends is hard enough. As they transition to postsecondary education after high school or later in life, these types of choices grow in number and importance. Consequently, even the best laid plans for higher education can go awry. This […]

New White Paper: Using Behavioral Economics for Postsecondary Success

America’s future economic competitiveness, individuals’ economic opportunity, and reducing income inequality all depend heavily on increasing the number of graduates of quality postsecondary education programs. Fortunately, there is now a general consensus for the need to improve this hard-to-move outcome. The focus has turned to figuring out what is cost-effective and designing postsecondary policies and […]

New Working Paper: Behavioral Design for Development

Behavioral economics’ most successful large-scale impacts have so far been in the developed world, with notable successes including the headway made on getting Americans to save for retirement or the many successes of Britain’s Nudge Unit. But at ideas42, we believe that behavioral economics can also dramatically change the way development programs work (for the […]

A Chat About Behavioral Economics

One from the archives: back in 2010, ideas42 co-founder Sendhil Mullainathan and New York University’s Glenn Loury had a wide-ranging discussion about behavioral economics, which you can listen to here. Lots of food for thought in there, including the behavioral economics of the snooze button, why single mothers are like air-traffic controllers, and sundry other […]

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