Behavioural change has become a core issue of public policy. Behavioural instruments such as ‘nudging’ apply insights from behavioural economics and behavioural sciences, psychology and neurosciences across a broad range of policy areas. Behavioural insights teams and networks facilitate the global spread of behavioural public policies. Despite an ever-growing amount of literature, research has remained fragmented. This comprehensive Handbook unites interdisciplinary scholarship, with contributions critically assessing the state and direction of behavioural public policies, their normative implications and political consequences.

In this comprehensive Handbook, international experts examine theoretical and empirical research to analyse a core element of the public policy process: implementation. Traversing numerous sub-disciplines and traditions including top-down and bottom-up approaches to public policy implementation research, the chapters present a synthesis of the state of scholarship and stimulate future thinking in the field.

Using rich ethnographic data and first-hand experience, Ball presents a detailed account of Australia’s attempts to incorporate behavioural insights into its public policy. Ball identifies three competing interpretations of behavioural public policy, and how these interpretations have influenced the use of this approach in practice. The first sees the process as an opportunity to introduce more rigorous evidence. The second interpretation focuses on increasing compliance, cost savings and cutting red tape. The last focuses on the opportunity to better involve citizens in policy design. These interpretations demonstrate different ‘solutions’ to a series of dilemmas that the Australian Public Service, and others, have confronted in the last 50 years, including growing politicisation, technocracy and a disconnect from the needs of citizens. Ball offers a detailed account of how these priorities have shaped how behavioural insights have been implemented in policy-making, as well as reflecting on the challenges facing policy work more broadly. An essential read for practitioners and scholars of policy-making, especially in Australia.

This report outlines good practice principles intended to encourage the incorporation of behavioural perspectives as part of standard policymaking practice in government and governmental organisations.

This comprehensive Handbook provides an analysis of the key issues, accomplishments, and challenges of research and practices related to the interactions between business and public policy.

This Handbook assembles state-of-the-art insights into the co-evolutionary and precarious relations between science and public policy. Beyond this, it also offers a fresh outlook on emerging challenges for science (including technology and innovation) in changing societies, and related policy requirements, as well as the challenges for public policy in view of science-driven economic, societal, and cultural changes. In short, this book deals with science as a policy-triggered project as well as public policy as a science-driven venture.

This important Handbook is a comprehensive guide to the role, function and perceived impact of policy research-oriented institutions in North America, Europe and beyond. Over 20 international scholars explore the diverse and eclectic world of think tanks to reveal their structure, governance and unique position in occupying a critical space on the public-policy landscape.

Behavioral-based intervention in designing public policies has become an important field of study in recent years with empirical studies devoted to analyzing how to design better policies from the fields of behavioral economics, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, economy, political science, design (human-centered design and design thinking), or effective state and non-state bureaucracies throughout the world. Therefore, it is important to explore this original research on behavioral policymaking that starts from the development of policies following all the way through to the implementation of them and the many stages in between. Current research on public policy seeks to provide insights and support leadership in public administration within the framework of behavioral science. Behavioral-Based Interventions for Improving Public Policies aims to provide a glimpse of the theoretical frameworks in use and some of the latest practical reported research findings for behavioral-based intervention in designing public policies. The chapters will explore policymaking knowledge applied in different types of communities and cultural environments. While highlighting topic areas that include policymaking, policy infrastructure, and policy adoption, this book is ideally intended for professionals and researchers working in the fields of policymaking, administrative sciences and management, behavioral economics, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, economy, or political science along with practitioners, stakeholders, academicians, and students.

The definitive introduction to the behavioral insights approach, which applies evidence about human behavior to practical problems. Our behavior is strongly influenced by factors that lie outside our conscious awareness, although we tend to underestimate the power of this “automatic” side of our behavior. As a result, governments make ineffective policies, businesses create bad products, and individuals make unrealistic plans. In contrast, the behavioral insights approach applies evidence about actual human behavior—rather than assumptions about it—to practical problems. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, written by two leading experts in the field, offers an accessible introduction to behavioral insights, describing core features, origins, and practical examples. These insights have opened up new ways of addressing some of the biggest challenges faced by societies, changing the way that governments, businesses, and nonprofits work in the process. This book shows how the approach is grounded in a concern with practical problems, the use of evidence about human behavior to address those problems, and experimentation to evaluate the impact of the solutions. It gives an overview of the approach's origins in psychology and behavioral economics, its early adoption by the UK's pioneering “nudge unit,” and its recent expansion into new areas. The book also provides examples from across different policy areas and guidance on how to run a behavioral insights project. Finally, the book outlines the limitations and ethical implications of the approach, and what the future holds for this fast-moving area.

The new edition of the bestselling guide to the issues students will encounter in the study of social policy in both the UK and abroad Fully updated and expanded, the sixth edition of The Student’s Companion to Social Policy remains the most accessible and comprehensive review of UK and comparative social policy available for undergraduate students. Written and edited by leading experts in the field, this authoritative textbook covers all the perspectives, debates, issues and challenges in both the theory and practice of social policy. The latest edition reflects the most recent developments in the discipline and in social policy-making. New and revised chapters examine critical topics such as the policy agenda of the UK government elected in 2019 and the implications of globalization, climate change, Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. A wealth of new and revised illustrative material, including additional problem-centred review and assignment questions, enhance students’ learning and comprehension whilst encouraging them to reflect on and reconsider the issues raised in each social policy discussion. A timely, issue-driven overview for students to draw upon throughout their studies, this acclaimed textbook: Provides the analytical foundation necessary to investigate and evaluate the key concepts and perspectives central to the study of social policy Presents up-to-date coverage of policy formation and outcomes, national and international debates and the challenges and choices facing societies Features new and revised coverage of key issues including international and comparative developments, austerity and post-austerity policies in the UK and devolved administrations, public attitudes to welfare and sustainability challenges Offers a range of pedagogical tools such as boxed 5-point summary overviews, “Emerging Issues” sections, guides to further resources and chapter review questions The Student’s Companion to Social Policy, Sixth Edition is essential reading for all those on Social Policy courses, whether specialising in the subject or studying it as part of another programme across the social sciences at undergraduate or postgraduate level.