Nudges in Public Policy
2 empirical behavioral interventions in the public policy sector, each with measured before-and-after results — averaging a +5.5 percentage-point change.
Increasing National Tax Compliance via Social Norms
The UK Behavioral Insights Team added a single social norm line to payment letters: '9 out of 10 people in the UK pay their taxes on time.' To make it even more salient, they localized the norm: '9 out of 10 people in your local area pay on time.'
Payment Rate within 23 Days: 67.5% → 83% (+15.5 pts) · n = 140,000 taxpayers
Pre-Trial Release Decisions and Machine Crime Forecasting
Evaluated a machine learning model designed to predict defendant flight risk and crime probabilities, compared against the historical release rates and subsequent rearrests under human judges.
Rearrest Rate of Released Defendants: 18.2% → 13.7% (+-4.5 pts) · n = 750,000 cases in New York City