Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Behavioural Public Policy

Location: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société Sud-Est (MSHS), Nice, France
Dates: 20-21 May 2019

BACKGROUND
Since the publication of Nudge by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler in 2008, a growing number of governments and international organisations see in behavioural sciences a new way to design public policies. This evolution gave birth to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom in 2010, followed by the creation of similar ‘nudge units’ in Australia, the United States, Canada, India, Singapore, among others, as well as within the World Bank, the OECD, and some UN agencies.
A ‘nudge’ consists in the intervention of a public or private actor aiming at influencing the behaviour of another individual, without however constraining her choice, by exploiting the diverse decision biases and heuristics that guide most of our decisions. Nudges present two significant advantages compared to other, more traditional, policy tools: (i) their low cost compared to more traditional forms of incentives, and (ii) their non-coercive dimension.
Among some of the most widespread nudges, we can mention the design of default options. The goal is to use an inertia bias and our tendency to procrastinate to increase (for instance) our retirement savings, organ donation, or the adoption of eco-friendly behaviours . Another powerful mechanism consists in highlighting different social norms, and to use our tendency to adopt what seems to be the ‘normal’ behaviour. This type of intervention is mostly used to promote eco-friendly behaviours, such as the consumption of more durable goods or the reduction of electricity consumption.
The emergence of such ‘behavioural public policies’ however raise serious political and ethical issues. We can indeed wonder whether such interventions would remain efficient once they are publicly disclosed. An obvious problem with this kind of policy is a potential trade-off between the efficiency of the measure and the enlightened consent of the citizens who are exposed to the intervention.

OBEJCTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP
Combining the perspectives from different disciplines (psychology, economics, philosophy), this workshop should offer new insights about the various issues raised by the quasi-generalised political acceptance of behavioural sciences for policy purposes.

The workshop will gather two communities of researchers, a group of psychologists and behavioural economists from the Université Côte d’Azur (Nice, France) and a larger international community of economists and philosophers. While the first group (who will organise the workshop) is mainly composed of PhD students and young researchers working on the efficiency and acceptability of nudges, the second group includes young researchers, as well as more senior scholars, working on the methodological and ethical challenges raised the use of behavioural sciences in economics and social sciences.
The workshop will also expand the activity of the YSI working group ‘Behavior & Society’ in France and Europe, as the workshop will offer the opportunity for those two (mostly European) communities to engage in discussions that are at the core of the objectives of the ‘Behavior and Society’ working group. We plan to select about 10 young researchers who will get the opportunity to present during the workshop.

PARTICIPANTS
Expected participation: 10 invited speakers, 8 members of the organisation committee, and up to 10 young scholars (Master, PhD, Postdoc) who will get the opportunity to present during the workshop. The application deadline is April 15, 2019.