MINDSPACE: Influencing behaviour through public policy

Our new report explores how behaviour change theory can help meet current policy challenges.

02 MAR 2010 Paul Dolan David Halpern Dominic King Ivo Vlaev Michael Hallsworth 1 min read

New insights from science and behaviour change could lead to significantly improved outcomes, and at a lower cost, than the way many conventional policy tools are used.

MINDSPACE explores how behaviour change theory can help meet current policy challenges, such as how to:

reduce crime
tackle obesity
ensure environmental sustainability.

Today's policy makers are in the business of influencing behaviour - they need to understand the effects their policies may be having. The aim of MINDSPACE is to help them do this, and in doing so get better outcomes for the public and society.

A companion paper, Behavioural Government, was published in 2018. This new report builds on the Behavioural Insights Team’s work on applying behavioural insights to policymaking and the Institute for Government’s work on better policy making.