Behavioural Insights Team

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The Behavioural Insights Team (also the "nudge unit") is a team in the Cabinet Office of the UK government that was set up to apply nudge theory to try to save the government money.[1][2]

The team was set up in 2010 by the coalition government in a probationary fashion.[1] In April 2013 it was announced that it would be partially privatised.[3]

Projects

One of the projects they were involved with was to increase the rate of loft insulation. Although loft insulation was essentially a zero-risk proposition there were few people having it installed. The nudge unit discovered that people's lofts were full of junk, and provided low-cost labour to clear them; this caused a fivefold increase in the proportion of installed insulation.[2]

The unit has convinced 100,000 more people to carry organ donor cards by making small changes to the wording of messages on the DVLA website where people renew driving licences.[4]

In June 2012, they published a policy paper on the use of randomised controlled trials in collaboration with Ben Goldacre.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/behavioural-insights-team
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9853384/Inside-the-Coalitions-controversial-Nudge-Unit.html
  3. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-competition-to-find-a-commercial-partner-for-the-behavioural-insights-team
  4. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26030205
  5. ↑ Test, Learn, Adapt: Developing Public Policy with Randomised Controlled Trials


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