Governments must nudge the right human behavior for policies to succeed

Dubai, UAE, February 11, 2015: Implementing processes to nudge social behavior among citizens could lead to the success of government policies, said a senior UK policy expert at the third Government Summit in Dubai.

“We think, perhaps naively, that passing laws or implementing taxes or incentives will automatically lead people to change their behavior, but the reality is not the case,” said Dr. David Halpern, Chief Executive of the Behavioral Insights team with the government of the United Kingdom. “Our goal is to implement a realistic model of human behavior into policymaking and sometimes this requires minor tweaks in processes.”

The question for all governments and policymakers, he surmises, is simple: “How can we encourage small behaviours, how can we nudge people, to make better choices?  We want people to recycle, to save more, be healthier or bring down crime. So how can we implement policies that make them make these decisions?”
 
In his work with the government of the United Kingdom, Dr Halpern explained that his team, dubbed as the “Nudge Unit”, has implemented processes that improve outcomes across a variety of public sector like taxation, healthcare, employment and education.

A good example of a social nudge is the white line that separates directions on roadways. “This is not a policy change, or a government decision. When this minor change was implemented in the UK in the 1920s, it had a huge effect on making roads safer.”

A real world example of a nudge comes in the form of a minor tweak in taxation letters in the UK. “Shorter letters which include instances of positive social examples have shown to be successful. Simply adding one sentence, ‘9 out of 10 people pay their taxes on time’ have led to a 5% increase in people paying their taxes with one month of receiving these letters. Now this may not sound much, but these taxes run in the millions of pounds so this is a cost- effective, tangible and positive nudge,” said Dr Halpern.

Successful social behavior nudges, he advised, were always easy, attractive, timely and social.

And these nudges can also be implemented by people who exist outside of the traditional policy- making framework. Feedback from teachers, Dr Halpern explained, can have a huge influence on the outcomes of student performance. “Experiments have shown different outcomes for teachers who give feedback on the same test to different students. Saying ‘good effort’, as opposed to ‘you’re a smart kid’ meant that the former group was about 20% more likely to perform better in maths tests even after bad results. This is because you’re reinforcing resilience and hard work over confidence.”

“Minor amendments in processes have the potential to influence positive behaviors and ultimately, the success of policies,” concluded Dr Halpern. “But the thing is, successful nudges are hard to predict. Something that might work in the UK has also had a similar outcome in Guatemala. However, what we need to find out, with rigorous evidence, is what nudges work for your country.”

The Government Summit concludes on February 11. The three-day programme, focusing on ‘Shaping Future Governments’ features 50 sessions from 100 speakers in academia, intergovernmental organisations, government bodies and businesses.