Ankara Center for Crisis and Political Research (ANKASAM) presents the views of Prof. Saltanat Janenova, University of Bristol, Lecturer, and Public Administration Academy under the President of Kazakhstan, Visiting Prof., to evaluate the behavioural public policies of countries.
1.What is behavioural public policy? How are different countries integrating behavioural insights, and what are some notable examples in this regard?
Countries across the world have actively embraced behavioural insights to develop low-cost interventions to improve public services and wellbeing of citizens. The key approach is based on the idea that behavioural interventions encourage people to make better choices for themselves and society (for example, make savings for retirement; eat healthy food; pay taxes; save water etc.).
Behavioural Public Policy includes all means of public policy aiming at influencing human behaviour by using insights from behavioural economics, behavioural sciences, psychology, and neurosciences. Based on research evidence from multi-disciplinary teams, Behavioural Public Policy can help governments to understand why citizens and businesses behave as they do and pre-test policy solutions before implementation on a large-scale.
Today we can find examples of behavioural policies in many countries across Western Europe, United States, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The first behavioural team was established in the UK’s Cabinet Office in 2010 to apply ‘nudge theory’ within British government. Now the UK Behavioural Insights Team is independent from the government providing advice to many organisations across the globe.
One of the recent examples is introducing flexible working standard in the UK government agencies. Research from the UK government reveals offering flexible working arrangements increases job applications by 30% and helps employment in areas away from major cities as well as provides more job opportunities for women who are doing unpaid domestic work.
Another example is introduction of sugar tax in the UK. In April 2018 to protect children from excessive sugar consumption and tackle childhood obesity, the UK government introduced a 2-tier sugar tax on soft drinks. The tax was targeted at manufacturers of the drinks to incentivise them to reduce the sugar content of soft drinks.
To increase revenue from vehicle tax payments in the UK, a new letter with simpler, harder-hitting messages (such as ‘Pay Your Tax or Lose Your [Model of Vehicle]’) including an image of the vehicle within the letter was introduced. The image of their own car attracts the attention of recipients and makes the idea of losing their vehicle more salient as it involves a strong element of personalisation.
2. What are potential benefits and challenges related to the application of behavioural public policies in the post-Soviet region?
Behavioural Public Policy is a relatively new field for governments from the post-Soviet Eurasia region who have been experimenting with behavioural interventions in the last few years. These governments’ efforts have been implemented in silos, with limited discussion between the government agencies who are driving these changes. Even the term of ‘behavioural policy’ has not been widely used in the post-Soviet space yet.
Behavioural Public Policy offers new opportunities and challenges to the governments in the post-Soviet region. Behavioural insights could help policymakers in the Eurasia region by providing them with a clear methodology that generates evidence on how people ‘actually’ behave and enhances the analysis, design, and delivery of public policies. Through experimentation and trialling, BI offers a cost-effective way of testing multiple policy responses on a smaller scale. While methodological debates still exist, behavioural approaches could be applied to a wide variety of policy domains, ranging from energy and environmental behaviour to financial practices and health.
Let me share a few examples of behavioural interventions introduced by the post-Soviet governments. The first example is increasing uptake of cervical cancer screening in Armenia. A randomised control trial in Armenia, implemented by UNDP’s SDG Innovation Lab, tested the impact of low-cost interventions of letters and reminders on the uptake of a national cervical cancer screening programme. Overall, 20,800 letters and 13,000 reminders were sent to a population of 36,508 women. The letters increased participation in the programme by about 350 percent compared to the control group. Letters were especially effective when reinforced by reminders, increasing participation by about 460 percent compared to the control group that received no letters.
Another example is related to preventing spitting in the public spaces in Kazakhstan. Spitting in the public spaces has become a widely shared concern among citizens in Kazakhstan. From 2023 spitting in the public spaces is a punishable act under the Code of Administrative Offenses “Pollution of public places”. The financial penalty for spitting is around 40 Euro (18,500 tenge). In case of repeated violations, the fine for spitting would double to around 80 Euro (or 37,000 tenge). The Centres for Operational Control in major cities monitor public behaviour through video cameras and register violations.
Both Azerbaijan and Belarus introduced a ban for sale of energy drinks for children under 18 years old. Energy drinks containing caffeine and alcohol make a detrimental impact on the health of young people who are the main consumers. Uzbekistan has attempted to reduce iodine deficiency through iodine campaign among children, although public concerns were raised in relation to the quality of iodine supplement distributed in the schools.
It is yet to be assessed what has been the impact of these behavioural interventions in the post-Soviet countries. Scholars and practitioners still have limited knowledge on how behavioural insights would be translated from the Western context into the post-Soviet Eurasia region given the bureaucratic nature and risk-averse culture of government institutions. Introducing innovations in the public sector is particularly challenging for top-down hierarchical contexts. Concerns should be raised in relation to limited transparency and accountability in the post-Soviet region.
Overall, there is a clear sign of increasing interest from the governments in the post-Soviet Eurasia region towards behavioural insights. It would require closer collaboration between governments officials, researchers, and professionals from various disciplines; building capacity within the government; ethical considerations; and moving towards evidence-based policy making.
Dr. Saltanat Janenova
Saltanat Janenova is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol (UK) and Visiting Professor at the Academy of Public Administration of the President of Kazakhstan. She holds a PhD in Social Policy from the University of Edinburgh. Dr Janenova’s research interests include public sector reforms, open government, corruption and public service innovation in post-Soviet Eurasia. Dr Janenova has previously worked at Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan) and the University of Birmingham (UK) and has consulted for international organisations. Her recent policy paper ‘Behavioural Public Policy: New Opportunities and Challenges for Kazakhstan and the Eurasian Region’ was published with the support of the UNDP/Astana Centre for Public Service, a regional network of government officials, academics and practitioners.
