The Decision Corner

In today’s episode of The Decision Corner, we are joined by Faisal Naru, the head of strategic management and coordination in the executive director’s office at the OECD. Faisal has extensive experience in political strategy, public policy, behavioral insights, institutional reform, and global development. For reference, the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are Faisal’s own and do not represent the views of the OECD or any of its members. Faisal is a co-founder of the European Nudge Network, Board of Trustees of Nudge Lebanon and he serves on a number of international committees including the Green Growth Knowledge Platform’s Behavioural Insights Research Committee & the United Nations Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee (MAC) of the 10 YFP Sustainable Lifestyle and Education Programme. Faisal is a former member of the UK Cabinet Office, Chief Adviser to the government of Viet Nam and he belongs to the leadership team of a global development consultancy. He advises a number of government leaders on reform and improvements. He began his career heading up a charity tackling social mobility, and he graduated from the University of Oxford. In this episode we discuss: How the COVID-19 crisis has altered behavior and policy at a variety of scales and contexts The role of trust in institutional effectiveness, and the relationship between expertise and effectiveness in policy Confirmation bias, political participation and overcoming preconceptions of how the world works Motivating people to adhere to policy beyond simple command and control mechanisms Empathy and pro-social behavior as a foundation for ethical decision-making

In today’s episode of The Decision Corner, we are joined by Sandi McCoy, associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and Aarthi Rao, director of the design and innovation lab at CVS Health. For reference, this episode was taped prior to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and accordingly reflects the understanding of the situation at the time. Sandi studies how social, economic, and cultural forces influence disease transmission and health outcomes. During the past several years, she’s explored these relationships through the lens of HIV infection and reproductive health. Using a diverse array of approaches, her goal is to identify innovative, cost-effective, and scalable interventions to overcome global health challenges. Aarthi leads an innovation team to apply tools such as design thinking and behavioral science to unlock new cross-functional innovation roadmaps and directly incubate new high-value business concepts to various stages of prototyping, piloting, and product development. Ms. Rao is passionate about applying interdisciplinary approaches to create, test, and scale innovative programs and services to improve lives, particularly for programs supporting hard to reach or vulnerable populations across the world. She’s an experienced innovation advisor and problem solver, who’s lived and worked abroad, to partner with mission-driven companies, non-profits, researchers, and social enterprises who may want to try applying design thinking in combination with behavioral science and experiments to improve outcomes. In this episode, we discuss: Sandi and Aarthi’s work in bringing tools like design thinking, behavioral science, and traditional product management frameworks into global health. The use of behavioral science and design thinking in the life cycle of a public health project. Sandi & Aarthi’s Tanzanian-based project that aims to determine the best way to help girls get access to contraception and HIV self-tests. How behavioral science and the field of public health can draw parallels from Netflix disrupting Blockbuster. How to form effective interdisciplinary teams when there is heterogeneity in the backgrounds and experiences of members. The lack of durability of certain nudges and how people can become desensitized to them. The best-case scenario for the future of combining design thinking with behavioral science.

In today’s episode of The Decision Corner, we are joined by Margarita Gomez, the inaugural executive director of the People in Government Lab, located in the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. The People Lab is the School’s innovation-in-government project aiming to improve the motivation, responsiveness, and effectiveness of people working in government. For reference, this episode was taped prior to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and accordingly reflects the understanding of the situation at the time. Margarita has more than 12 years of experience working to build better governments and to design more effective public policies. Throughout her career, she has blended practice and theory, in both academia and the public sector. Previous to her current appointment, Margarita founded and led the first Behavioural Unit in Mexico and served as principal advisor to the Minister of Public Safety and Ministry of Defence in Mexico. In this episode, we discuss: The motives and aspirations of Oxford University’s People in Government Lab, which Margarita currently leads. Margarita’s attempts to increase honesty and motivation among Mexican and Brazilian public servants. Risk aversion in policy development and public sector consulting. Strategies for enhancing the internal capacity for behavioral science in governmental institutions. The role of “champions”, aka powerful decision-makers who are sympathetic to, and knowledgeable about, the influence of behavioral science on their area of expertise, in implementing desired interventions. Arbitrating differences between academic and government metrics for a project’s success. Discussing the challenges of autonomy and expertise for policymaking in developing countries.

In today’s episode, Brooke Struck, the research director at The Decision Lab, is joined by Gianluca Sgueo, associate researcher at the Center for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and a New York University Global Professor (Florence). He holds administrative positions at the Sole24Ore Business School (Italy). In the governmental sphere, Professor Sgueo is a policy analyst in the European Parliamentary Research Service. He previously held high-level positions in the Italian government, including Head of Communications and Citizens’ Dialogue. His work examines the effects on democracy of topics such as gamification, civil society groups, and lobbying. Specifically, we discuss: The relationship between technology and democracy Is there a trade-off between privacy and efficiency in governance? Estonia’s surprisingly progressive digital governance system Is technology in government inversely correlated with privacy and security? How technology influences our choice environments and our social interactions within them The shift from the information age to the reputation age—if we trust the source, we share Intelligent government design: How do we design governments to tackle the most pressing societal issues, efficiently and effectively? Using behavioral science principles to make the participatory channels of our democracy more engaging and attractive to users.

In today’s episode, we are joined by Julian Jamison, a professor of Economics at the University of Exeter and an affiliate at the Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and Jameel Abdul Latif Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). Prior to this, Julian spent 9 years in the public sector working for the United States government as Section Chief of the Decision-making and Behavioral Studies group and as a Behavioral Economist for the Global INsights Initiative at the World Bank (now known as the Mind, Behavior and Development Unit, or eMBeD). Julian holds a B.S and M.S in Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Game Theory from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His academic work focuses on the interaction between individual preferences, decisions, and well-being, and on institutional policies, including explicit welfare tradeoffs. He uses a wide range of methodological approaches, including mathematical theory, lab and field experiments, formal rhetoric, surveys, and large administrative data analytics. Julian’s work has been featured by The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Forbes, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and The Economist. In this episode, we discuss: Julian’s experience working as a behavioral scientist at the World Bank eMBeD unit. Working in academia and working in industry: pros, cons and lessons. The need to distinguish between behavioral obstacles and behaviorally-informed interventions How the fear of ambiguity makes behavioral science more challenging to adopt within organizations. Why measurement tools are critical in any study. Why the behavioral science we of our decade is different from what has been studied before Julian’s hope for the future of behavioral science: Integrated into our approaches in a way that is complementary rather than a separate field The need for specialization in behavioral science

In today’s episode, we are joined by Jesse Itzkowitz, Senior Vice President and Behavioral Scientist at Ipsos Behavioral Science Center, a leading global market research and consulting firm. Prior to joining IPSOS, Jesse held an extremely successful academic career as a Professor from Yeshiva University, where he was twice awarded Professor of the year. Holding a dual PhD degree in marketing and cognitive psychology from the University of Florida has equipped him with a valuable (and extremely unique) skillset that enables him to be both scientifically rigorous and responsive to the needs of the industry. His research has received extensive press coverage from the Wall Street Journal, Time, Bloomberg Businessweek, and CNN. Last winter he gave an informal synopsis of his interests and body of work in a TEDx talk. In this episode, we discuss: Moving from a career in academia into applied behavioral science Navigating the new consumer world: Brand advocacy in the political sphere Using behavioral science to personalize, predict and direct brand strategy Nudges versus sludges: Guiding principles for behavioral scientists and why we need to keep the consumer’s best interest in mind Reconciling academic rigor with behavioral science applications in the real world: Challenges and solutions Why companies are reluctant to apply behavioral science: Is it the fear that our experiments might just prove us wrong? Behavioral Science at IPSOS How to distinguish good research versus bad research: Why the “So what?” question is the key to impacting meaningful change. How to frame our thinking around the ethics of nudging The value of having a PhD when working in applied behavioral science How we can apply behavioural science to improve sustainability, improve trust among consumers and understand the role that emotions play in decision making.

In today’s episode, we are joined by Evelyn Gosnell, Managing Director at Irrational Labs and frequent speaker in behavioral economics and consumer psychology. She is an expert in helping companies use the science of decision-making to better understand how real people think and behave, thereby creating better products and services for them. Evelyn is also the Head of Product Development and Behavioral Science at Shapa, a health startup founded by behavioral scientist Dan Ariely. Evelyn’s work spans across a broad array of industries. She has launched major health initiatives with companies such as Aetna, developing and implementing behavioral training programs to be used at scale.  She has worked with Google, Procter & Gamble, The World Bank, Maritz, AARP, CUNA Mutual, among others. Evelyn also teaches a course on behavioral economics through UCSD Extension and is a frequent guest lecturer at the Rady School of Business at UCSD. In this episode, we discuss: How Evelyn’s product background helped her in her current role at Irrational Labs. Shapa’s approach to the “overweight” problem: nudging with a numberless scale. Is Nudging overused? And, why transparency is critical to creating an ethical code of conduct around behavioral science. Empiricism versus efficiency and creating a culture of rapid testing and experimentation. Using behavioral science to personalize, predict and direct brand strategy. Health, wealth and happiness: Irrational Lab’s guiding principles for selecting projects. Why experience is everything if you want to work in applied behavioral science. The projects that Evelyn is excited about in the near and long-term future.

In today’s episode, we are joined by Ting Jiang, Principal at Center for Advanced Insight, a behavioral science lab at Duke University, researching and designing interventions and products for behavioral change. Ting is an experimental economist by training, a philosopher at heart and a psychologist in action. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, conducting research on diagnostic tools for social norms and interventions for norm change. For the past two years, a substantial portion of her time has been dedicated to conducting field studies and designing product solutions to help low-income Kenyans improve their financial and health decisions. In this episode, we discuss: How a dice game that Ting designed on cheating got her into behavioral science* The calendar that was redesigned to promote financial health More healthy living projects: The Hidden Gym project and Nappiness Evidence versus intuition in designing interventions: Why the biggest challenge is trusting the evidence, rather than our own intuitions How to foster a culture that embraces risk-taking and experimentation Understanding the mechanisms that drive effects is the key to “good” research Why businesses must start prioritizing consumer well-being From fin-tech to behavioral tech: optimizing automation and engagement for products/services How to become an applied behavioral scientist

In today’s episode, we are joined by Chief Executive of the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), David Halpern. He has led the team since its inception in 2010 and was the founding director of the Institute for Government. Between 2001 and 2007, David held tenure at Cambridge and held posts at Oxford and Harvard. He has written several books and papers on areas relating to behavioral insights and wellbeing, including Social Capital (2005), the Hidden Wealth of Nations (2010), Inside the Nudge Unit (2015). David is also co-author of the MINDSPACE report. In this episode, we discuss the current state of the behavioral science industry and its role within the public and private sectors, as well as predictions for how it will evolve. Specifically, we discuss: Nudging against violence (domestic violence, classroom violence and civil violence) What nudging means in 2019 and how it will evolve in the next 10 years Behavioral science and machine learning: the implications of personalized interventions Nudging the nudgers: making nudging more ethical through enhanced democratic deliberation Interfacing public- and private-sector nudging for maximum impact The skills and experience you need to work in applied behavioral science How nudging should be regulated and who should decide the ethical boundaries of nudging The future of the BIT: exciting projects and challenges

Sarah has almost 10 years of experience developing chain strategies and digital patient engagement and adherence, lifestyle change, global and public health, and positive organizational psychology. She has worked and partnered with clients and organizations such as Ogilvy, Bupa, Oxitec, GlaxoSmithKline, the Bartlett School of Architecture, and the UK Department for International Development. In her areas of subject matter expertise are behavioral economics and cognitive and affective science. Sarah is especially interested in how our effective experiences, for example, moods, emotions, feelings of empowerment influence cognitive processes, biases, and behaviors. Sarah holds a Master of Science Degree in Marketing from University College Dublin and a Master of Science and Social Cognition from UCL. She currently works as the Lead Inventor for ?WhatIf! Innovation. For reference, this episode was recorded last year before Sarah began working at ?WhatIf! Innovation. In this episode, we discuss: Fundamental needs that drive everyday behaviors Sarah’s work on healthcare engagement and health behavior change Creating mental health products that promote resilience against mental health challenges and facilitate patient engagement and adherence. Turning challenges of applying behavioral science into opportunities. What does nudging mean in 2019? Where academic versus leaner approaches are necessary P values, effect sizes and sample sizes How we can ensure that we are delivering the greatest good to the greatest number Regulation and legislation in behavioral science Moving from isolation to integration: the evolution of behavioral science units