Rotman Management — Spring 2017

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enrollment, employees have been automatically enrolled and
participation rates have increased significantly. Between 2010
and 2014, the number of companies with an 80 per cent partici-
pation rate or higher rose by 14 per cent.
Elsewhere, the UK government sought to apply choice archi-
tecture to the decision its citizens made regarding organ-donor
registration. The idea was that tweaks to processes and language
— informed by behavioural science and tested for effectiveness
— could significantly improve participation rates. This work was
spearheaded by the UK’s Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), the
world’s first behavioural insights unit within government. The
most successful message out of those tested was the following:

“If you needed an organ transplant, would you have one?” By

invoking the concept of reciprocity, this simple question encour-

ages potential donors to think a bit more about the decision.

The result: BIT estimated that it would be able to add 100,

names to the donor registry annually.

The Canadian province of Ontario has also succeeded in

increasing organ-donor registration rates by harnessing two

simple behavioural insights to design nudges: First, as seen in

the UK, a message that evokes empathy was used to get poten-

tial donors to think a bit more about the decision; and second,

simplifying the application form itself increased the likelihood

that this greater thought would be converted to action.

Nudge Units Worldwide

FIGURE ONE

SOURCE: BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS TEAM, 2016. WE THANK OWAIN SERVICE FOR PERMISSION TO ADAPT AND REUSE THE MAP.SOURCE: BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS TEAM, 2016. WE THANK OWAIN SERVICE FOR PERMISSION TO ADAPT AND REUSE THE MAP.

Canada:

Federal &

Provincial

teams

UK: The Behavioural Insights

Team (BIT) and nudge units in

14 departments

Netherlands: Ministry

of Economic Affairs and

Ministry of Infrastructure

& the Environment

Norway:

GreeNudge

Finland: Prime

Minister’s Office

Denmark: The Danish

Nudging Network

Germany:

Chancellor’s Office

Moldova: UNDP/BIT

collaboration

Italy: PM’s Committee

of Experts

France: OECD

Behavioural

Science

Coordination

European

Commission:

Behavioural Science

and Foresight Team

NYC: BIT

North America

& ideas

Chicago: Chicago

Nudge Unit

U.S.: White House Social and

Behavioural Sciences Team

World Bank: Global

INsights Initiative (GINI)

Mexico:

President’s

Office

Guatemala:

Guatemalan Tax

Administration

Jamaica: Finance

Ministry (UNDP/BIT) Rio de Janeiro:

Mayor’s Office

India: New BE unit

Singapore: Prime

Minister’s Office &

Ministry of Manpower

Sydney: BIT

Australia &

Behavioural

Insights Unit, New

South Wales

Australia:

Behavioural

Economics Team

of Australian

Government (BETA)

Melbourne:

Department of

Premier and

Cabinet, Victoria

Since the inception of the UK’s Behavioural Insights Team in 2010, governments around the world have followed suit, creating their own

behavioural units dedicated to better understanding how policies and programs can be improved with the application of behavioural

science. Currently, more than 50 such behavioural units have been established in local or federal governments around the world.