The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) exists to achieve social impact by introducing a more realistic model of human behaviour to policy making. This report summarizes the range and impact of BIT’s work over the past 12 months. In addition to the projects BIT has undertaken with the UK government, the report provides summaries of work conducted by our offices in Sydney, New York, and Singapore.
Topics among others include:
- Health and well-being
- Education and skills
- Home affairs
- Energy, Sustainability and Consumers
- Productivity and Growth
It has been another exciting year for the field of behavioural insights, which is now becoming more mainstream across the UK Civil Service and increasingly, amongst governments around the world. Not only are behavioural insights more and more being applied in more areas, but there is also the development of more complex interventions and evaluations. This report illustrates these changes. But it also offers insights into where one might go next, to help have even greater social impact over the coming months and years. Finally, the authors include in the report interventions that did not work too: where the effect of the intervention was no better than the control group. It is as important to know what does not work, as well as what does. Understandably, governments – and even academics – often worry about publishing ‘null results’. But the authors believe it is much better to establish that an intervention or change does not work on a small scale, rather than blindly leap to implementation on a larger or national scale. The authors hope that the lead that BIT has taken on this practice will help to make it easier for others to do the same.
Link to publication