Behavioral Public Policy – Collection

Well-intentioned public policies can backfire when they ignore how people actually think and behave—leading to harmful “boomerang effects.” To avoid these outcomes, policymakers can consult behavioral science experts and rigorously test interventions before scaling them, focusing on real-world outcomes rather than intuition or superficial engagement metrics.

Government projects often fail not because of bad intentions but because of behavioral blind spots like the sunk cost fallacy and misplaced incentives that distort planning and decision-making. Public sector teams can harness behavioral science tools, such as pre-mortems, incentive alignment, and decision hygiene, to improve project outcomes and avoid costly missteps.

Practical integration of behavioral science in government requires starting small, co-designing with policymakers, and prioritizing local capacity-building. Rather than chasing big wins or importing ready-made solutions, successful interventions emerge from trust, contextual understanding, and empowering public servants to apply behavioral insights in ways that are meaningful and sustainable.

Collecting evidence is only half of the battle; influencing public policy also requires behavioral strategies that ensure that the right people engage at the right time. This case study focuses on how TDL helped Nesta apply behavioral UX and audience research to design tools that speak directly to policymakers’ decision-making processes, increasing the real-world impact of their work.

When machine learning and behavioral science intersect, the result can be powerful—but also dangerous, as biased algorithms risk amplifying human cognitive biases at scale. To use AI responsibly in public policy, we must design interventions that are both ethical and evidence-based, ensuring transparency, fairness, and alignment with human well-being.

Volunteering challenges how we think people behave. But, to design effective civic engagement strategies, behavioral policymakers must recognize the diverse psychological motivators behind volunteering and create pathways that align intrinsic values with evidence-based, ethically sound opportunities to contribute.

Game theory shows that driving is a cooperative “game,” and when signals and signs disappear, players must negotiate cues directly—prompting safer, slower, more attentive behavior. Leveraging this insight, shared-space street design can give cities a low-cost option for making intersections safer without piling on more rules.

To support Rome’s 2024 diesel ban, The Decision Lab helped design a behavioral messaging strategy rooted in shared values like family, heritage, and national pride—shifting the narrative from sacrifice to stewardship. With over 3 million citizens impacted and 3,600 monuments at risk, aligning the policy with Romans’ identities proved key to building public buy-in for climate action.