Nudging Behavior in Business and Public Policy

Catalog description

This course applies the insights of Behavioral Economics to inform business and policy decisions. A nudge encourages desired behavior by framing the decision or environment such that various cognitive processes and heuristics are engaged in favor of the desired outcome. The use of this branch of social science has been used successfully by the UK and US governments by the Behavioural Insights Team and Social and Behavioral Sciences Team, respectively. Nudges have also been used effectively by the United Nations, via UNICEF, to address and change a variety of behaviors such as gender violence and sanitation practices. In 2016 the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy founded the Qatar Behavioral Insights Unit (QBIU) and it was incorporated as a foundation under the Qatar Financial Center in 2019. This foundation is known as B4Development (B4D) and would be of interest and importance to CMUQ students. One of the partners of B4D is the Qatar Foundation.