Publication: Leveraging Behavioral Science to Increase the Impact of Economic Inclusion Programming
Loading...
Other Files
164 downloads
Published
2022-04-18
ISSN
Date
2022-04-28
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Behavioral science-the study of how humans make decisions and take actions—can provide insight into a host of issues that impact the effectiveness of programs that rely on people acting in certain ways. Behavioral science can be utilized to understand how living in poverty, with chronically scarce resources, affects people's decisions and actions. This can be particularly effective when combined with other program components in economic inclusion programs, which offer a bundle of coordinated, multidimensional interventions that support individuals, households, and communities in their efforts to increase their incomes and assets. By incorporating an understanding of behavioral science into economic inclusion programming, governments and nongovernment organizations seeking to bring millions out of poverty with limited resources can ensure that their programs are designed to account for human behavior.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Datta, Saugato; Joshi, Mukta; MacLeod, Catherine; Zini, Michele Davide. 2022. Leveraging Behavioral Science to Increase the Impact of Economic Inclusion Programming. PEI In Practice;Vol.3. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37353 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-08)This paper evaluates the effects of interventions based on behavioral science on measures of early childhood socio-cognitive development (and related household-level outcomes) for children from households receiving cash transfers in Madagascar, using a multi-arm cluster-randomized trial. Three behavioral interventions (a Mother Leaders group and associated activities, by itself or augmented with a self-affirmation or a plan-making nudge) are layered onto a child-focused cash transfer program targeting children from birth to age six years. Approximately 18 months into the implementation of these interventions and 20 months since baseline, the study finds evidence that households in the behaviorally enhanced arms undertake more desirable parenting behaviors, interact more with their children, prepare more (and more diverse) meals at home, and report lower food insecurity than households that received only cash. Children from households in several of the behaviorally enhanced arms also perform better than children from households in the cash-only arm on several measures of socio-cognitive development, including language learning and social skills.Publication Inclusive Responses to the HIV and AIDS Challenge(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009)India is experiencing a period of high economic growth and rapid social and demographic change. There is increasing concern about the manner in which this transformation is impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While the Government of India has taken significant measures to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, much remains to be done. Given the complexity of the challenge, an effective response requires the engagement of all sectors. The private sector, alongside other stakeholders, can play an important part not only by contributing to the efforts for HIV/AIDS prevention and the reduction of stigma and discrimination, but also for the care, support and treatment of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA). The report presents challenges, good practices and success stories about how Informational Technology (IT) companies in India are addressing the issues of HIV/AIDS. It demonstrates the mounting will and commitment of IT leaders to respond to the epidemic. The IT industry in India is young in terms of both its stage of development and the age of its workforce which averages 18-35 years. Reflecting the composition of the sector, the report documents the experiences not only of large companies in India's IT sector, but also of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Each company has used different approaches to address HIV/AIDS among its workforce including community outreach activities. By capturing these companies' experiences, the report seeks to foster a more active response to HIV/AIDS from India's IT community and to encourage new partnerships to leverage the goodwill and competencies of this sector.Publication A Behavioral Approach to Water Conservation(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06)This paper presents the design a set of three simple and replicable behavioral interventions, which use stickers that can be added to water bills at low cost, and test their impact on water consumption in Belen, Costa Rica, using a randomized control trial. Two of the three interventions were found to decrease water consumption significantly in the months following the intervention. A descriptive social norm intervention using neighborhood comparisons reduces consumption by between 3.7 and 5.6 percent relative to a control group, while a plan-making intervention reduces consumption by between 3.4 and 5.5 percent. While the two interventions have similar results, they are effective on different subpopulations, with the plan-making intervention being most effective for low-consumption households, while the neighborhood comparison intervention is most effective for high-consumption households. The results demonstrate that behavioral interventions, which have hitherto utilized sophisticated software to deliver customized messages, can be effectively implemented by local governments in developing countries, where technology and resource constraints render the sorts of customized messaging that has typically been used to deliver them in developed countries unfeasible. The results further confirm that raising awareness about how much water an individual consumes, and comparing this consumption level with peers, can go a long way in helping change individuals’ behavior regarding the use of a finite resource such as water.Publication Using Behavioral Science to Increase Women’s Participation in Natural Resource Management in Mexico(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-04-25)Natural resources management (NRM) helps protect forests and promote sustainable development. Although women are key in strengthening activities in NRM, they are dramatically underrepresented in public funding for forest projects in many countries, such as Mexico, limiting their participation and impact. While structural barriers, such as land tenure and low capacity, cause this problem, this is exacerbated by barriers such as lack of information, complex application processess, gender norms, and rural women’s low aspirations and limited agency and self-efficacy to participate in NRM projects. This paper tests whether additions and modifications to the standard outreach strategies of a call for proposals for NRM grants in Mexico increase the number of applications submitted by localities and the share of women participating. The study uses a randomized controlled trial in 113 rural localities, where the standard outreach approach (control) is complemented with additional information channels and simplified materials (treatment 1), aiming to appeal more directly to inexperienced populations. A second treatment group further modifies the informational materials using insights from behavioral science (loss aversion, norms framing, and others) and adds proactive text message reminders to prompt behavior (treatment 2), hoping to address the barriers to women’s participation. The results suggest that treatment 1 localities had, on average, 2.3 more applications per locality than the control group (increasing the participation of both men and women). Treatment 2 complemented this, having, on average, 6.4 more women per locality participating of these applications than in treatment 1. This shows that women manifested interest in participating in these activities. A representative survey of women in the study localities (1,485 women in 52 localities) suggests that women in treatment localities were more likely to recognize the name of the project or informational materials. The analysis also suggests that the complementary strategies had no effect on the likelihood of being selected to receive a grant under the project, suggesting that additional support is needed to translate this increased interest into successful applications that would allow participation in NRM.Publication Jobs, Well-Being, and Social Cohesion: Evidence from Value and Perception Surveys(World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2013-05)Recent events, including the Arab Revolutions and protest movement of unemployed youths in OECD countries, have contributed to the popular sentiment that access to good jobs is an important driver of social cohesion. While economic dimensions of labor market outcomes are relatively well documented, evidence on the link between social cohesion and employment conditions is still surprisingly scarce. This paper, a background report for the WDR 2013 on Jobs, presents descriptive evidence that illustrates possible linkages between labor market outcomes and social cohesion. The findings suggest that, once one passes the threshold from low to lower middle income countries, formal employment emerges as a determinant of a range of outcomes relating to social cohesion, such as membership in social associations or levels of political activism. There are also indications of an increasing association between work and life satisfaction across higher and lower middle income countries. The paper concludes with a discussion of the study's implications for emerging economies whose labor market and social institutions are still in transition.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.