KAFP 3670 - Governance, Democracy and Public Policy : Psychology and public policy

It isn't enough to have the right policy idea: public policies can be well-intended yet fail because they are not received as planned by the public. Governments around the world are thus applying behavioural sciences to improve policy-making by relying on a more realistic model of human behaviour (e.g., Obama's Social and Behavioral Sciences Team, the Behavioural Insight's Team in Downing Street, the EU Policy Lab, etc.).

The goal of the class is to introduce basic theories and experimental findings in psychology to foster more innovative policy-making and to improve citizens' well-being. Each class will provide opportunities to identify obstacles created by people's natural biases and to select the right levers to counter these biases. This psychological toolbox will then be put to use to solve concrete public action issues and to potentiate the efficacy of traditional policy levers (regulations, incentives, and information).

Mariam CHAMMAT,Lou SAFRA,Camille SOULE

Cours magistral seul

English

Students are expected to read the required reading and post their comments online before each class. Each reading will be about 15 pages long (i.e. book chapter, policy report, or short scientific paper). The slides of each lecture will be made available.

No prerequisite.

Autumn 2024-2025

The final grade will rest on two components:
- Midterm (40 %) - The midterm exam will consist of a quiz based on the content from lectures and readings.
- Final exam (60 %) - The goal of the final paper is to apply behavioral insights to real world policies. You will be asked to pick a public policy challenge among the list given at the beginning of the semester and produce a policy brief document to convince policy-makers that a behavioral insights approach could be relevant to address the given challenge. Your policy brief will have to be concise (1200 to 1400 words long, it should not take more than 5 min to read), clear and visually appealing to catch decision-makers' attention. In your document, you will have to start by explaining why a BI approach is relevant for the chosen challenge, to identify and describe the structural and behavioral obstacles involved in the problem, to state relevant behavioural levers to address them and give some ideas of solutions in which they could be implemented. You will also be expected to provide a few key elements for impact assessment (type of protocol, useful indicators, variables to be measured...) and ethical guidelines. When relevant, your work might eventually lead to actual recommendations for a wide range of ministries.

This class will be highly interactive. Students will be asked to read material before each class and to post their comments on the course moodle. The instructor will then review these comments and prepare slides to respond to the students' questions. During the lecture, students will have more opportunities to engage with the content of the course by responding to polls, by asking questions online and by debating among themselves. Group discussions will be encouraged whenever possible. The output of the mid-term exam and of the final exam will be shared online so that all students can benefit from their peers' work.