OAFP 9690 - Behavioral Public Policy Making

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., the Behavioural Insights Team in Downing Street, the EU Policy Lab, the Behavioural science team at the OECD, etc.). Through a combination of theoretical inputs and practical case studies, this course aims to introduce the tools necessary 1/ to conduct behavioral analyses of public policy issues, 2/ to use psychology to potentiate the efficacy of traditional policy levers (regulations, incentives, and information) and 3/ to imagine behavior-centered innovative policies. Importantly, a critical analysis of the use of behavioral sciences for public policies will be conducted throughout the semester to invite students to question these approaches and consider their practical and ethical limits.

None

This course is based around the analysis of practical cases to highlight how these cases applied key concepts from behavioral psychology. From week 7, these classes will be completed by shorter (one hour) lectures on specific issues, notably presented by guest speakers from the international behavioral public policy ecosystem. The last hour of each class will be dedicated to the presentation and discussion of the students’ ideas for their final papers.

Engagement 20%

Students are expected to attend the lectures, arrive on time, participate in the in-class discussions and exercises on the case studies each week. Of course, active participation at any time during the lecture is also strongly encouraged.

Final paper

Throughout the semester, students will work in groups on the design of a behavioral public policy. To this end, they will have to identify a public policy that fails to achieve its goals, produce a behavioral analysis of why it failed and propose a ready-to-be-tested behavioral solution.

Students are expected to present their advancement on the final paper in one session during the second half of the semester (20% of their final grade) and to write a concise policy brief (4 pages) that present their analysis and their project (30% of their final grade).

In addition, one time in the second half of the semester, students will also have to discuss the project of another group, challenge their ideas and propose additional perspectives and insights (30 % of their final grade).