Financial Health

Want Generous, Intentional, and Informed Giving? Try Behavioral Science

by Omar Parbhoo

It’s often said that Americans are exceptionally generous, and fortunately, it’s a claim that’s well supported by the numbers. In 2016 alone, U.S. households donated over $282 billion to charities worldwide. And when compared globally, the U.S. consistently ranks as one of the most altruistic countries by the World Giving Index. But do these absolute […]

The Role of Combinatorial Innovation in Addressing Societal Challenges

by ideas42

  idea42’s Josh Wright recently caught up with Tom Kalil, Chief Innovation Officer of Schmidt Futures, and former Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.  One of the ideas that Tom is exploring is that science and technology can and should be playing a larger role in addressing societal challenges, particularly those […]

ideas42 Seminar Series: A Talk with Daniel Chen

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 Daniel Chen, researcher at Toulouse School of Economics. He has a law degree from Harvard Law School and a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of […]

Making Saving Easier

by Dan Poniachik

“It’s very hard for me to save, because I have so many day-to-day expenses for my small kiosk. Still, at the beginning of the month I manually transfer part of my commission to my savings account, that way I don’t use it for other purposes during the month. It would be great if this transfer […]

5 Tips for Launching (and Sustaining) a City Behavioral Design Team

by ideas42

For the past few years, we have been applying behavioral science to city programs and services in New York and Chicago to help the city government take into account complex human behavior, and the contexts in which we make decisions. We have embedded experts into agencies themselves—a model we call Behavioral Design Teams (BDTs)—to tackle […]

Celebrating a Decade of Using Behavioral Science for Social Good

by ideas42

Ten years ago, ideas42 started in a small office at Harvard University. Since then, we have partnered with foundations, non-profits, government agencies, and socially-minded companies to work on more than 100 projects in over 35 countries, using behavioral science to improve millions of lives around the world. Today we released our first-ever Impact Report, taking […]

Applying “When” to Real Life

by Kanyinsola Aibana

Our work involves devoting significant amounts of time to understanding what drives people’s behavior—and prompting them to make decisions and follow through with action that benefits them. As a member of ideas42, I can’t help but apply this same behavioral lens to my own life. When I read Daniel Pink’s new book, When: The Scientific […]

Introducing a Behavioral Playbook for Financial Providers

by Katy Davis, Maddie Kau, & Abigail Kim

Digital tools such as automated savings and investment, expense tracking, and person-to-person payments save people time and help them manage complex finances. Useful features like these can even support overall financial health, particularly for low- and middle-income consumers, if traditional financial services don’t meet their needs. Widespread adoption of these services also benefits financial providers […]

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 […]

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 […]