PP452      Half Unit
Applying Behavioural Economics for Social Impact: Design, Delivery, Evaluation and Policy

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Requisites

Assumed prior knowledge:

A rigorous understanding of statistics, economics and econometrics is important for this course, in order to be able to absorb the economics journal articles and methods covered.  Students will be required to have previous experience in both statistics and econometrics to be eligible for the course. 

This course delivers insights from cutting edge research in psychology and economics, and asks students to use these insights to design solutions to significant social challenges.  Students learn how to diagnose, design, deliver, and rigorously test products and services using the principles of behavioural economics and the methods of field experimentation. 

The course begins by describing the principle of coproduction: outcomes in health, education and similar fields are not simply given to end-users, but are produced by end-users themselves, interacting with supply-side factors Drawing on the insights from behavioural economics and using qualitative methods, students learn how to diagnose end-user needs, preferences and behaviour. The course then explores how the psychological aspects of behaviour can be combined with the tools and structure of economics to induce behaviour change and improve outcomes, including the challenge of setting prices and designing incentives. Throughout the course there is emphasis upon the critical importance of effective measurement in the context of the social sector, where traditional market feedback mechanisms are typically absent and where mission-driven leaders’ evaluation of organisational impact can itself be subject to cognitive bias and distortion. Appropriate measurement in turn informs improvements in diagnosis and design. The course concludes by exploring policy impact and how research can be translated into policy action.  Real world case studies are used at every stage of the course.

This course is relevant to all those who wish to improve the effectiveness of social interventions and programmes across a range of diverse fields, whether such interventions are administered through the state or, increasingly, through private philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. 

This course is delivered through a combined lecture-seminar format totalling a minimum of 30 hours in Autumn Term.  There will also be a drop-in weekly technical support session.  

Additional exercises which will include preparation of an essay of the discussion questions for Harvard Business School-style case discussion.

There is no single textbook for the course.  For an introduction to the field of behavioural economics, students should consult Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (2009, Penguin) and Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (2012, Penguin). We will also be reading several scientific articles from top-tier economics journals.  A full reading list with the readings for each topic will be made available at the beginning of the course.

Presentation (10%)

Course participation (20%)

Project (70%)

The project (worth 70%) will consist of a group exercise developed over the duration of the term addressing a real world problem using tools from the course. 20% will be based on in-class participation and 10% for a presentation.