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
Reframing a simple question made people keep their reservations
Individuals who were making restaurant reservations through a phone call were asked: “Will you please call if you have to cancel?“.
The percentage of people who did not keep their reservations fell to just ...
Asking for explicit commitment of blood donors increased the number of kept appointments
Blood donors got a phone call to donate blood. After they agreed to give blood, at the end of the conversation the caller asked „can we count on seeing you?“.
When this question was ...
Wikipedia used social proof to increase help in filling it with data.
Wikipedia wanted to boost the amount of work being done by volunteers. They used the principle of social identity. They awarded a metric called ‘Barnstar’ to the volunteers who were contributing to keeping the ...
Changing the wording of social proof in a letter increased on-time tax-payments
HM Revenue and Customs wanted to increase the number of people that pay their taxes on time. They changed the wording of a letter to say that only a small minority of people did ...
Stickers in buses helped decrease the number of deaths and injuries
In Kenya, they wanted to improve road safety. Stickers were put up in minibuses telling people they had a right to ‘heckle and chide’ drivers that they deemed were not driving safely. This led ...
UK employers increased employee enrollment in pension schemes by making it a default choice
UK employers wanted to increase the number of their employees that were enrolling in pension schemes. They decided to create a scheme where people were automatically enrolled, as opposed to being given the choice ...
Making citizens choose a green electricity company with the help of default settings
In Schönau, Schwartzwald, 2500 citizens established a green electricity company and looked for a way for it to be adopted by other local citizens.
Being part of the company was made a default option ...
Making green energy the default option persuaded people to make sustainable choices
In the field of energy consumption, it is hard to incite change as people have long-term subscriptions to services. In Southern Germany, in 1999 an energy company called Energiedienst GMbH changed the default option ...
Government organisation increased tax collection rates by simplifying the process.
UK Revenue and Customs authority wanted to increase the tax collection rate.
They sent letters directing people straight to forms to fill in, rather than a web page where they had to find the ...
Decreasing the amount of deaths from drug poisoning by increasing friction
New legislation was put in place in the UK to try and limit the number of deaths caused by paracetamol poisoning.
The new legislation meant paracetamol was sold in blister packs if the quantity ...