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

Assigning informal awards to Wikipedia contributors to incentivize peer production

Researchers set out to examine the effects of informal rewards on online peer production. Their goal was to better understand what motivates people to make time-intensive contributions to large-scale peer production efforts when there ...

Demonstrating that irrelevant, random anchor values influenced sentencing decisions of legal professionals

Researchers set out to examine the effect of irrelevant anchors on sentencing decisions of experienced legal professionals. 

They designed four experiments where experienced judges were given realistic legal case materials and were asked ...

The presence of an image of a pair of eyes was shown to incite students to contribute more money to an honesty box

Researchers decided to examine the effect of an image of a pair of eyes on contributions to an honesty box used to collect money for drinks in a university coffee room.
 
They conducted ...

Students´ anxiety and self-doubt has reduced by reflecting their own personal values

Students may feel uncomfortable in the learning environment due to previous negative experiences. A simple writing exercise called „values affirmation“ can alleviate this feeling of anxiety and help to identify a purpose for learning.
Learners ...

Encouraging text messages helped to raise students´ motivation

Many learners don´t receive a continuous amount of encouragement in order to persevere with their studies and improve engagement with learning. Support networks can have a positive effect on their motivation. A “study supporter” nominated by the ...

Supporting students by timely messages improved their attendance by 22%

Students with lower numeracy, creativity and literacy levels may need bigger support and motivation. Often, something as small as a prompt or an encouraging message is enough to improve their learner outcomes.
BIT, working ...

Sending reminders to customers reduced their overdraft charges

Many individuals get themselves into charges because they are not reminded about their tariff coming to an end.
The FCA ( Financial Conduct Authority ) has initiated an analysis of banking customers to see ...

Access to automatic enrolment increased the number of people using workplace pensions

People are more likely to stick with the default (with what they´ve chosen originally) than to switch to other, more profitable services.
The UK Government switched the default in which employees had to ...

Highlighting someone’s identity as a prior donor increased the likelihood of the future donations

Due to the competitive market charities feel that they must cut core costs to receive funding.
Identity priming can be implemented in practice to encourage the public to donate. Researchers primed donor identity ...

Restricting withdrawals from saving accounts unless the saving goal was reached increased savings by 81%

A self-control mechanism was trialed in the Philippines to encourage saving. Customers were offered a savings account that restricted withdrawals until they reached either a specific time or a savings target. After a year ...

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