Behavioral Design: A New Approach to Development Policy

Saugato Datta and Sendhil Mullainathan

No wp-2014-103, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: Successful development programs rely on people to behave and choose in certain ways, and behavioral economics helps us understand why people behave and choose as they do. Approaching problems in development using behavioral economics thus leads to better diagnosis and to better-designed solutions. This paper sketches how to use behavioral insights to design development programs. It distills key insights of behavioral economics into a simple framework about the constraints under which people make decisions.

Keywords: Agriculture; Experimental design; Microeconomics; Poverty; Technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Behavioral Design: A New Approach to Development Policy (2014)
Working Paper: Behavioral Design: A New Approach to Development Policy (2012)
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