Document Type : Summary of Research
Author
Imam Sadiq University (A,.s)
Abstract
Governments use public policies to promote valuable goals such as protecting the environment, saving for retirement, reducing pollution, maintaining public health, etc., and try to direct people's behaviour in line with their views on the public interest. This view of policy can also be seen in the words of scholars such as Schneider and Ingram: "Public policy has almost always tried to get people to do things they would not otherwise do, or to enable them to do things that might be done in otherwise they do not” (Schneider & Ingram, 1990, p. 5).
The issue of changing people's behavior is a concern that governments have taken various approaches to address over time. Behavioral approach is one of the approaches that has recently grown and expanded in the knowledge of behavioural economics and is known as the choice architecture, nudge and behavioural public policy. Behavioural public policy is a policy intervention that is directly inspired by behavioural insights and is designed based on the principles of behavioural research (Galizzi 2014, p. 27). In this approach, policy makers use behavioural insights at all stages of the policy cycle (from problem definition to policy development and implementation) and have a more realistic view of human behaviour (Behavioural Insights Team, 2014, p. 8; OECD, 2019, pp. 45-48). Nudge-based and behavioural interventions, due to their high impact and very low cost, have been able to attract the attention of many policymakers around the world; Today, the use of this approach to change the behaviour of people around the world is widespread, and many governments use the choice architecture by establishing an institution called "nudge unit". By emphasizing external factors, both environmental and social, nudge tools try to influence people's choices and behaviours and change people's behaviour without major changes in their minds and insights. Scholars such as Thaler, Sunstein, Ariely, Kahneman, and Tversky argue that in this approach, governments do not use rules to force citizens to change their decisions, but instead use libertarian paternalism approach (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008, p. 5) and more subtle forms and methods to influence and guide people's behaviour. In this approach, choices and options are not eliminated but are influenced by different tools (Smith and Larimer, 2009, p. 210).
)