Behavioral Economics and Public Policy 102: Beyond Nudging

2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 396-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurabh Bhargava ◽  
George Loewenstein
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Policy Problems

Policymakers have recently embraced Behavioral Economics as an alternative approach which recognizes the limits and consequences of human decision-making. Early applications of BE (“nudges”) produced notable successes and helped to set the stage for more aggressive applications aimed at the deeper causes of policy problems. We contend that policies that aspire to simplify products and incentives, rather than choice environments, aggressively protect consumers from behavioral exploitation, and leverage BE to enhance the design and implementation of traditional policy instruments offer solutions commensurate with contemporary challenges. Case studies in health insurance, privacy, and climate change illustrate the application of these ideas.

Personality, Relationships, and Decision Making with Relational Dynamics

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Bathory
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Economic Models ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Dsm V ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Variable Probability

Within the field of Economics there is great interest in predicting the future. In creating Economic Models the rationale has been to create fixed equations that can account for all variables associated with the issues of capital, labor, wages, prices, tariffs and taxes but few models explored the human variable. Probability Statistics bases decision making models upon mathematical predictions. Game Theory is an economic model that begins to explain the rationale of human decision making, but fails to account for flawed thinking and pathology. Relational Dynamics attempts to provide a means of understanding the strategies used in communication and decision making. Within humanity, not all decisions are made rationally and to account for illogical choices, psychology has provided theories of pathology to explain human idiosyncrasies. This paper will explore personality disorders as described by the DSM V and Relational Dynamics in an attempt to understand how pathology influences relationships, decision making and behavioral economics.

Communicating about Climate Change with Policymakers

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishani Mukherjee ◽  
Michael Howlett
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Policy Advisory Systems ◽  
Advisory Systems ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Policy Problems

Policy communication and the resulting influence that information has on policy decision-makers is an especially pertinent topic when it comes to problems of climate change. Notorious for its complexity, uncertainty, and divergence of viewpoints, climate change has earned the title of being the major “wicked” or “super-wicked” problem of our times. A proliferation of expertise, interests, and capacities mark the climate change policymaking landscape and this density of players warrants an advanced framework to understand the ways in which the variety of climate-pertinent knowledge is communicated to policymakers. Moving beyond undifferentiated “two-communities” models of knowledge utilization in policymaking which limit the discussion to the bilateral interactions between knowledge experts or “producers” and information “consumers” of the public sector, this article explores the concept of a policy advisory system, which embodies the different sets of influence that various policy actors can have during policy decision-making and how communication between and among actors is a significant aspect of climate change policymaking. The concept of policy advisory systems is an important new development in the policy studies literature and one that is analytically very applicable to climate policy contexts. Suitably generalizable across representative policy settings, policy advisory systems are comprised of distinct groups of actors who are engaged in the definition of policy problems, the articulation of policy solutions, or the matching of policy problems to solutions. We explore how individual members of these separate sets of actors—namely the epistemic community, which is occupied in discourses about policy problems; the instrument constituencies which define policy instruments; and the advocacy coalitions which compete to have their choice of policy alternatives adopted—interact and communicate with policymakers across climate change policy activities.

Behavioral Decision Theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhisa Takemura
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Theory ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Behavioral Finance ◽  
Utility Theory ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Behavioral Decision Theory ◽  
Behavioral Decision ◽  
Descriptive Theory ◽  
Human Decision

Behavioral decision theory is a descriptive psychological theory of human judgment, decision making, and behavior that can be applied to political science. Behavioral decision theory is closely related to behavioral economics and behavioral finance. Behavioral economics is an attempt to understand actual human economic behavior, and behavioral finance studies human behavior in financial markets. Research on people’s decision making represents an important part of these fields, in which various aspects overlap with the scope of behavioral decision theory. Behavioral decision theory focuses on the decision-making phenomena that are broadly divisible into those under certainty, those under risk, and others under uncertainty that includes ambiguity and ignorance. What are the theoretical frameworks that could be used to explain the decision-making phenomenon? Although numerous theories related to decision making have been developed, they are, in essence, often broadly divided into two types: normative theory and descriptive theory. The former is intended to support rational decision making. The latter describes how people actually make decisions. Both normative and descriptive theories reflect the nature of actual human decision making to a degree. Even descriptive theory seeks a certain level of rationality in actual human decision making. Consequently, the two are mutually indistinguishable. Nonetheless, a major example of normative theory is regarded as the system of utility theory that is widely used in economics. A salient example of descriptive theory is behavioral decision theory. Utility theory has numerous variations, such as linear and nonlinear utility theories. Most theories have established axioms and mathematically developed principles. In contrast, behavioral decision theory covers a considerably wide range of variations of theoretical expressions, including theories that have been developed mathematically (such as prospect theory) and those expressed only with natural language (such as multiattribute decision-making process models). Behavioral decision theory has integrated the implications of the normative theory, descriptive theory, and prescriptive theory that help people to make better decisions.

scholarly journals Between technochauvinism and human-centrism: Can algorithms improve decision-making in democratic politics?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal D. König ◽  
Georg Wenzelburger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Established Democracies ◽  
Political Decision Making ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThe promise of algorithmic decision-making (ADM) lies in its capacity to support or replace human decision-making based on a superior ability to solve specific cognitive tasks. Applications have found their way into various domains of decision-making—and even find appeal in the realm of politics. Against the backdrop of widespread dissatisfaction with politicians in established democracies, there are even calls for replacing politicians with machines. Our discipline has hitherto remained surprisingly silent on these issues. The present article argues that it is important to have a clear grasp of when and how ADM is compatible with political decision-making. While algorithms may help decision-makers in the evidence-based selection of policy instruments to achieve pre-defined goals, bringing ADM to the heart of politics, where the guiding goals are set, is dangerous. Democratic politics, we argue, involves a kind of learning that is incompatible with the learning and optimization performed by algorithmic systems.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Ethan Porter
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Consumer Decision Making ◽  
Consumer Decision ◽  
Consumer Decisions ◽  
Political Decisions

This chapter blends insights from political science, behavioral economics, history and psychology to lay out the theoretical proposition of the book. The consumer citizen approach has implications for attitudes toward government and government spending, levels of political knowledge, and even whether people sign up for government-sponsored health insurance. Empirical evidence about the incidence of consumer and political decisions is offered. The comparative ubiquity of consumer decisions, I argue, explains why consumer decision-making tools come to be used in political contexts. Ultimately, viewing citizens as consumer citizens means viewing their political behaviors and attitudes as they are, not as some might wish them to be.

9. Economic behaviour and public policy

2017 ◽  
pp. 116-126
Author(s):  
Michelle Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Economic Behaviour ◽  
Behavioural Insights ◽  
Wide Range

At its best, economics can help policy-makers to design policies that resolve a wide range of economic and financial problems, for individuals and economies as a whole. ‘Economic behaviour and public policy’ explores some key insights and evidence from behavioural public policy, particularly microeconomic policy. Instead of examining market failures, behavioural public policy looks at behaviour change—changing the way that people make their everyday decisions and choices by nudging them towards more efficient and productive decision-making. The future for behavioural public policy is promising. Policy-makers need to look carefully at how policies based around behavioural insights can be used to complement rather than replace conventional economic policy instruments.

What can cities do to increase resilience?

2007 ◽  
Vol 365 (1860) ◽  
pp. 2731-2739 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Crichton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Change Mitigation

This paper examines climate change mitigation and adaptation from an insurance industry perspective, with particular reference to London and the USA. It illustrates how British insurers are increasingly shaping public policy and using new technology to manage the risks from climate change impacts and makes a plea for society to make more use of insurance expertise in future decision making. In particular, more dialogue is needed between architects, planners and insurers to adapt our buildings and cities for climate change impacts. The paper is an abbreviated and updated version of the paper presented by the author in Houston, Texas, in 2005.

scholarly journals A behavioral economics perspective on the COVID-19 vaccine amid public mistrust

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Londeree Saleska ◽  
Kristen R Choi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Vaccine Decision Making ◽  
To Receive

Abstract The COVID-19 vaccine development, testing, and approval processes have moved forward with unprecedented speed in 2020. Although several vaccine candidates have shown promising results in clinical trials, resulting in expedited approval for public use from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, recent polls suggest that Americans strongly distrust the vaccine and its approval process. This mistrust stems from both the unusual speed of vaccine development and reports about side effects. This article applies insights from behavioral economics to consider how the general public may make decisions around whether or not to receive a future COVID-19 vaccine in a context of frequent side effects and preexisting mistrust. Three common cognitive biases shown to influence human decision-making under a behavioral economics framework are considered: confirmation bias, negativity bias, and optimism bias. Applying a behavioral economics framework to COVID-19 vaccine decision-making can elucidate potential barriers to vaccine uptake and points of intervention for clinicians and public health professionals.

Governing Irrationality, or a More Than Rational Government? Reflections on the Rescientisation of Decision Making in British Public Policy

2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 2819-2837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Whitehead ◽  
Rhys Jones ◽  
Jessica Pykett
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Ethical Critique ◽  
Behavioural Theories

It appears that recent debates within human geography, and the broader social sciences, concerning the more-than-rational constitution of human decision making are now being paralleled by changes in the ways in which public policy makers are conceiving of and addressing human behaviour. This paper focuses on the rise of so-called Behaviour Change policies in public policy in the UK. Behaviour Change policies draw on the behavioural insights being developed within the neuro-sciences, behavioural economics, and psychology. These new behavioural theories suggest not only that human decision making relies on a previously overlooked irrational component, but that the irrationality of decision making is sufficiently consistent to enable effective public policy intervention into the varied times and spaces that surround human decisions. This paper charts the emergence of Behaviour Change policies within a range of British public policy sectors, and the political and scientific antecedents of such policies. Ultimately, the paper develops a geographically informed, ethical critique of the contemporary Behaviour Change regime that is emerging in the UK. Drawing on thirty in-depth interviews with leading policy executives, and case studies that reflect the application of Behaviour Change policies on the design and constitution of British streets, the analysis claims that current strategies are predicated on a partial reading of new behavioural theories. We argue that this partial reading of human cognition is leading to the construction of public policies that seek to arbitrarily decouple the rational and emotional components of human decision making with deleterious social and political consequences.

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