Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The Federal Government of the United States administers a wide array of programs to serve the American people: financial aid to assist with college attendance, social insurance programs and tax incentives to promote retirement security, health insurance programs to ensure access to healthcare and financial protection for families, and countless others. While the government provides services to all Americans, programs serving financially disadvantaged populations are often of particular interest to many stakeholders. Policy makers, researchers, and advocates often strive to understand the most efficient and effective ways to design and deliver programs to lower-income populations.

 In practice, Americans are best served by these programs if the programs are easy to participate in and present options and information clearly. When programs are designed without these considerations in mind, Americans can incur costs that go beyond wasted time and effort. For the lowest income Americans, the costs may be even higher, as ineffective program design may mean that a family is more likely to be faced with the difficult ongoing tradeoffs associated with the constant juggling of insufficient financial resources. Research from behavioral science (which includes insights from psychology, behavioral economics, and other social sciences) demonstrates that seemingly small barriers to engagement—such as hard-to-understand information, burdensome applications, or poorly presented choices—can prevent programs from working effectively for the very people they are intended to serve and support.

 On September 15, 2015, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies to consider the use of applied behavioral science in the design and delivery of their programs. With assistance from experts in this field, agencies can identify areas where these insights could be most effectively leveraged and, when appropriate, test and evaluate their impact using rigorous research methods. The Social and Behavioral Sciences team serves the federal government in accordance with this Executive Order. The SBST works across the federal government to apply findings and methods from the social and behavioral sciences to help the policies, programs, and operations of government better serve the nation. The team includes leading behavioral scientists and innovators from across the country, and works with a vast array of financial agencies on the programs they deliver.

In this presentation, I will present highlights from the work completed by the team since its inception. Although the team has worked with a wide range of agencies, this presentation will focus on work that supports economic opportunity for the American people – largely through a focus on streamlining access to a wide variety of government programs.