Environmental Sustainability

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 […]

Behavioral Economics and the Energy Efficiency Paradox

Spend enough time working on energy efficiency in the U.S. and you will eventually arrive at a curious fact. Despite the best efforts of government to encourage conservation, Americans leave an estimated $130 billion on the table every year in energy-saving opportunities. That’s more than the operating budget of every federal department except for defense. […]

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 […]