Seminar Public Policy: Using Behavioral Economics for Transition

Instructors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Daniel Schunk; Nina Zipperle
Shortname: HS: Publ Policy
Course No.: 03.897.2949
Course Type: Hauptseminar

Recommended reading list

Benartzi, S., Beshears, J., Milkman, K. L., Sunstein, C. R., Thaler, R. H., Shankar, M., Tucker-Ray, W., Congdon, W. J., & Galing, S. (2017). Should Governments Invest More in Nudging? Psychological Science, 28(8), 1041-1055

Bernheim, B. D., & Taubinsky, D. (2018). Behavioral public economics. Handbook of Behavioral Economics: Applications and Foundations 1, 1, 381-516.

Chater, N., & Loewenstein, G. (2023). The i-frame and the s-frame: How focusing on individual-level solutions has led behavioral public policy astray. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, e147.

Chetty, R. (2015). Behavioral economics and public policy: A pragmatic perspective. American Economic Review, 105(5), 1-33.

Stango, V., & Zinman, J. (2023). We are all behavioural, more, or less: A taxonomy of consumer decision-making. The Review of Economic Studies, 90(3), 1470-1498.

Contents

Behavioral insights units (“nudge units”) help governments design policies by testing how people actually behave not how economic models assume they should. They use psychology to design simple, low-cost interventions like defaults, reminders, or reframed messages and evaluate their impact through experiments.
In this seminar, you will step into the role of a decision-maker. You will design interventions that account for how real people think, decide, and misperceive. You will begin by diagnosing a concrete challenge, identifying the behavioral patterns that sustain the problem such as present bias, loss aversion, inattention, or misperceived social norms. You will map how these cognitive tendencies distort choices or subsequent outcomes and undermine policy or business goals. Based on your analysis of the underlying behavioral patterns and available results from RCTs, you will propose the most effective intervention.

Additional information

List of Topics

1)     Closing the Intention-Behavior Gap: The Role of Self-Regulation in Pro-Environmental Behavior

Ø  Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, J. (2002). Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?. Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239-260.

Ø  Nielsen, K. S. (2017). From prediction to process: A self-regulation account of environmental behavior change. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 51, 189-198.

Ø  Wyss, A. M., Knoch, D., & Berger, S. (2022). When and how pro-environmental attitudes turn into behavior: The role of costs, benefits, and self-control. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 79, 101748.

 

2)     Closing the Intention-Behavior Gap: The Role of Nudges in Pro-Environmental Behavior

Ø  Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, J. (2002). Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?. Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239-260.

Ø  Momsen, K., & Stoerk, T. (2014). From intention to action: Can nudges help consumers to choose renewable energy?. Energy Policy, 74, 376-382.

 

3)     Fostering Pro-Environmental Behavior in School: An Overview on Educational Interventions

Ø  Barrable, A., & Booth, D. (2020). Increasing nature connection in children: A mini review of interventions. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 492.

Ø  Charry, K., & Parguel, B. (2019). Educating children to environmental behaviors with nudges: The effectiveness of social labelling and moderating role of age. Environmental Education Research, 25(10), 1495-1509.

Ø  Karpudewan, M., Roth, W. M., & Abdullah, M. N. S. B. (2015). Enhancing primary school students' knowledge about global warming and environmental attitude using climate change activities. International Journal of Science Education, 37(1), 31-54.

 

4)     Becoming a Pro-Environmentalist: Developmental Trajectories of Pro-Environmental Behavior

Ø  Otto, S., Evans, G. W., Moon, M. J., & Kaiser, F. G. (2019). The development of children’s environmental attitude and behavior. Global Environmental Change, 58, 101947.

Ø  Otto, S., & Kaiser, F. G. (2014). Ecological behavior across the lifespan: Why environmentalism increases as people grow older. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 40, 331-338.

 

5)     Climate Communication: The Role of Emotions in Bringing People into Action

Ø  Ibanez, L., Moureau, N., & Roussel, S. (2017). How do incidental emotions impact pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from the dictator game. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 66, 150-155.

Ø  Ibanez, L., & Roussel, S. (2021). The effects of induced emotions on environmental preferences and behavior: An experimental study. PloS one, 16(9), e0258045.

Ø  Wong-Parodi, G., & Feygina, I. (2021). Engaging people on climate change: The role of emotional responses. Environmental Communication, 15(5), 571-593.

 

6)     Climate Communication: Determinants of Information Seeking vs. Information Avoidance

Ø  Golman, R., Hagmann, D., & Loewenstein, G. (2017). Information avoidance. Journal of Economic Literature, 55(1), 96-135.

Ø  Yang, Z. J., & Kahlor, L. (2013). What, me worry? The role of affect in information seeking and avoidance. Science Communication, 35(2), 189-212.

 

Dates

Date (Day of the week) Time Location
04/22/2026 (Wednesday) 11:00 - 12:00 01 130 RW 6
1226 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft I
06/18/2026 (Thursday) 08:00 - 18:00 01 130 RW 6
1226 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft I