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Designing Public Policy According to Achievements of Behavioural Economics

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Experimental and Quantitative Methods in Contemporary Economics (CMEE 2018)

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Abstract

The assumptions of behavioural economics, about cognitive biases, heuristics, and observations that sometimes individuals are not the best judges of their own well-being, are now being used in the paternalist libertarian approach. It is the basis for creating a behavioural public policy. Previous experience in its implementation has allowed the development of strategies for policy and regulatory design. Applying this approach should lead to increasing the efficiency of the public policy, often thanks to quite small, simple and not too expensive interventions. The aim of the study is to analyse the existing possibilities of using the achievements of behavioural economics in the public policy with reference to the strategy of creating and conducting behavioural public interventions. This aim was achieved thanks to the application of critical literature analysis and desk research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This concept triggered a broad discussion both in the environment of scientists and public policy practitioners who presented both criticism and support. See e.g. [4–13]. The subject of the present study is not an additional voice in this discussion, and therefore, the discussion is not presented.

  2. 2.

    This is the process of ‘applying techniques that intervene in and alter the situation that produces the boundedly rational behaviour, without operating on the degree of motivation or effort an actor brings to the task’ [30, p. 16].

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Correspondence to Danuta MiƂaszewicz .

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MiƂaszewicz, D. (2020). Designing Public Policy According to Achievements of Behavioural Economics. In: Nermend, K., ƁatuszyƄska, M. (eds) Experimental and Quantitative Methods in Contemporary Economics. CMEE 2018. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30251-1_4

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