Database of Behavioral Economics Interventions
Searchable database of 650+ case studies and interventions from business, public and non-profit sectors
List of 706 Database entries
Collecting overdue tax debt from employers increased after an implementation-intention letter.
The employers with overdue accounts were sent a collection letter which was modified with the inclusion of concrete details of where, how, and when to file one’s overdue annual return. The aim was to ...
Encouraging taxpayers to complete a registration with reminders and incentives
In order to register for the electronic and benefit service, taxpayers require an Access code, which is sent by post within five to ten days of starting the registration. The CRA (Canadian Revenue Agency) ...
Improving trust with government and engagement amongst constituents through mobile app
The Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) is the civic innovation office of the city’s government, which has the aim of strengthening the partnership between residents and government. One of the major ...
Increasing the number of responses the Danish Business Authority receives by sending out letters to Danish businesses through nudging.
Many businesses and individuals do not respond to letters from public institutions. This leads to unnecessary administrative costs for the business as well as for the public institution. Business Authority in Denmark sent out ...
Government examples of ways to clear a backlog
Many government agencies have large backlogs. By tackling them in the wrong way the problem is often pushed somewhere else.
The US navy solved their backlog of requests for medals by asking the ...
Council increasing the number of taxpayers using Direct Debit by loss aversion and social proof.
The Medway Council wanted to increase the number of people using Direct Debit to pay their taxes. They used two messages, one based on social proof and the other on loss aversion. Both types ...
Opower reduced electricity consumption by comparing each house in their reports
Opower is a provider of customer engagement and energy efficiency cloud services to utilities in the US. They wanted to reduce the electricity consumption of households it provides reports to. They used social proof ...
Public commitment reduced households´ electricity usage by 15%
When households were asked to make either private or public commitments to conserve natural gas and electricity, only those households who agreed to have their names published in the newspaper actually reduced their natural ...
Specific plan helped students get extra credits
A classroom of university students was told that they could obtain extra credit by writing an essay over the winter holidays.
75% of the students who were instructed to think about where and ...
Setting a goal helped seniors to recover more quickly
Seniors who had just undergone hip or knee surgery were either asked, or not asked, to simply write down where and when they planned to go for a walk that week.
The impacts ...