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philipy philipy
 

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 M¢25  Funded By Mahalo ? |  August 06, 2009 02:21 AM

Are there any examples in which ideas from Behavioral Economics have been successfully used to design policy?

Behavioral Economics has plenty of explanations of why some policies work well and others don't. However most of these were already existing.

Do you know any examples where these ideas have actually been used to design a policy, and have subsequently been proven to be useful?

Examples from the private sector would be great too.
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mulderc mulderc
 
 August 07, 2009 12:36 AM
One of the chief areas where idea from Behavioral Economics has been used in policy is retirement enrollment.

By changing enrollments from opt in to opt out many firms have seen enrollment in company retirement plans skyrocket.

Some places have gone to similar systems for gambling. People with gambling problems are able to opt out, through signing some paper work, and not be allowed into casinos.
Source(s):
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2009/0616_behavioral_economics_kling.aspx

Asker's Rating:
• Not quite what I wanted, but good input anyway.


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Helpful: philipy

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philipy philipy
 
August 07, 2009 01:14 AM
Good answer, but the link doesn't seem to have info on the examples you gave.

Have I missed something?

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mulderc mulderc
 
August 07, 2009 05:48 AM
within the article it talks about the retirement plans

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mulderc mulderc
 
August 07, 2009 05:49 AM
FTA
"policy economists have increasingly come to see that these deviations from the standard assumptions about behavior matter for economic policy. The most celebrated example is the use of defaults in retirement savings: policies encouraging firms to automatically enroll their workers in 401(k) plans, rather than waiting for individuals to sign up on their own, seem to encourage participation and savings in those plans to an extent that is extremely difficult to rationalize under standard assumptions about preference and choice (Madrian and Shea 2001). "

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philipy philipy
 
August 07, 2009 06:12 PM
That's not quite what I was looking for, for two reasons...

- The way it's written, it could be post-hoc analysis of why some schemes have worked better than others. I'm looking for examples where behavioral economics was purposely used, and we have the results to show what it effect it had

- I'm looking for the evidence that backs it up, so primary sources, or at least extensive discussion in a literature survey etc.

But thanks for your contribution, it's a good answer and a good paper, even though not quite what I was after.

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