ConPolicy Project Manager Dr. Annette Cerulli-Harms lectured about behavioral public policy in practice in the CEBEX SUMMER SCHOOL 2020 on Tuesday July 28. The summer school typically takes place in Prague but was moved online due to Covid-19. This allowed even more interested people from across the globe to participate. Practitioners, for example from government agencies and regulators, students, and PhD candidates from all areas of the world enthusiastically took part in the summer school.
Dr. Annette Cerulli-Harms discussed how politicians can and should base their decisions on the best available evidence including randomized controlled trials. During plenary sessions as well as through interactive case studies and group work the students learned how behavioral experiments and analyses are designed and conducted in practice. The session ended with an animated discussion of the ethical considerations policy makers should consider when designing behavioral interventions including so-called 'nudges'.
The summer school was hosted using an online communication platform which facilitated plenary sessions, group work, sharing of documents, interactive discussions on a virtual whiteboard.
This lecture was embedded into a rich four-day program on behavioral public policy. Other lecturers introduced students to the theoretical foundations of behavioral public policy including general concepts of behavioral sciences such as 'choice architecture' and 'rational' vs. 'irrational' behaviors of individuals and policy makers. Students were also introduced to experimental methods.
If you are interested in learning more about behavioral insights or in hosting an interactive online workshop, please get in touch.