The Role of Behavioral Economics in Evidence-Based Policymaking

• Author: Maya Shankar,William J. Congdon
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• Date: 01 July 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716218766268
• Subject Matter: Major Elements of the Evidence-Based Movement

ANNALS, AAPSS, 678, July 2018 81

DOI: 10.1177/0002716218766268

The Role of

Behavioral

Economics in

Evidence-Based

Policymaking

By

WILLIAM J. CONGDON

and

MAYA SHANKAR

766268ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYBEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS IN EVIDENCE-BASED POLICYMAKING

research-article2018

Behavioral economics has come to play an important

role in evidence-based policymaking. In September

2015, President Obama signed an executive order

directing federal agencies to incorporate insights from

behavioral science into federal policies and programs.

The order also charged the White House Social and

Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) with supporting this

directive. In this article, we briefly trace the history of

behavioral economics in public policy. We then turn to

a discussion of what the SBST was, how it was built,

and the lessons we draw from its experience and

achievements. We conclude with a discussion of pros-

pects for the future, arguing that even as SBST is cur-

rently lying fallow, behavioral economics continues to

gain currency and show promise as an essential ele-

ment of evidence-based policy.

Keywords: behavioral economics; Social and

Behavioral Sciences Team; public policy;

evidence-based policy

Behavioral economics is no longer the nov-

elty it once was. The academic foundations

of the field stretch back several decades, popu-

lar books on the topic top bestseller lists, and

feature articles grace magazine covers. But the

practice of translating its findings and lessons

into policy design remains in its relative infancy.

Thus, President Obama’s 2015 executive order

William J. Congdon is currently the chief economist at

the nonprofit organization ideas42. He previously

served as the senior economist for labor and behavioral

economics on the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).

Prior to CEA, he served as a fellow and founding mem-

ber of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team, and he

previously worked as a research director in the

Brookings Institution’s Economic Studies program.

Maya Shankar is currently Google’s head of Behavioral

Science. Prior to that she was a senior advisor in the

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

and founder and chair of the Obama administration’s

Social and Behavioral Sciences Team.

Correspondence: wjcongdon@gmail.com