Beta academic Directory

ABOUT BETA

We are the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government, or BETA.

Rather than expecting people to redesign their lives around government, our work encourages people centred design, which means: simpler, clearer and faster public services.

We are the Australian Government’s first central unit applying behavioural economics to improve public policy.

BETA started work in PM&C in early 2016 as a joint initiative across the Australian Public Service. Working with a range of partner agencies, BETA will put real people at the centre of policy and programme design.

Headed up by Professor Michael Hiscox of Harvard University, the team will use behavioural economics, science and psychology to improve policy outcomes.

Why we need a behavioural economics team

Traditional policy makers assume people will always make the best decision possible, and have no shortage of willpower or brain power. However, research and evidence tells us this isn’t always the case.

There is often a gap between what people intend to do and what they actually end up doing. For example, we know when people are in ‘auto pilot’ they will often use shortcuts and prefer to rely on stereotypes. In other cases people won’t act on their best intentions because they feel overloaded with choices.

That’s why it’s important to put real human behaviour at the centre of policy and programme design. Designing policy should be based on a sound understanding of human behaviour. This goes hand in hand with BETA’s commitment to test those designs, building our understanding of what works and when we need to adapt our approach.

We are making sure our government policies, programmes and services reflect real decision making and achieve the best possible outcomes for Australians.

Experience has shown that inexpensive improvements based on a better understanding of human behaviour can increase efficiency within the public service and help people put their good intentions into action. Initiatives like plain packaging of cigarettes, mysuper and pre filled tax forms were designed with real human behaviour in mind.

In NSW, behavioural economics helped to get injured workers back to health and work more quickly by simplifying processes, using positive messaging and personal commitment techniques.

In the UK, behavioural economics helped people realise their intention to register as an organ donor.

BETA’s mission

BETA’s mission is to advance the wellbeing of Australians through the application and rigorous evaluation of behavioural insights to public policy and administration.

BETA fulfils its mission by pursuing four broad objectives:

Build APS capability to apply behavioural insights to public policy and administration

Provide advice to government on applications of behavioural insights

Work collaboratively with partner agencies to design and deliver behavioural insights interventions

Conduct rigorous trials and thereby contribute to a culture of evidence based policy advice.

While we will adapt how we work in order to best fulfil our objectives and mission, several enduring principles underpin how we work:

Publish by default: We seek, to the greatest extent possible, to be transparent in all our work: the application of behavioural insights, the evaluation of these applications, and the operation of BETA itself.

Relationships: We seek to cultivate close relationships with behavioural insights practitioners and researchers in academia, public policy and the private sector.

Ethics: All randomised trials will be subject to ethics review.

ACADEMICS: A - Z

A

Anderson, Professor K 1

B

Baranov, Ms V 2

Bateman, Ms H 3

Bayer, Professor R C 4

Biddle, Associate Professor N 5

Binney, Associate Professor W 6

Blijlevens, Dr J 7

Booth, Professor A 8

Borland, Professor J 9

Bossaerts, Professor P 10

Bragge, Associate Professor P 11

Bray, PSM Mr R 12

Breunig, Professor P 13

Butler, Professor D 14

C

Camilleri, Dr A 15

Chuah, Dr S H 16

Creed, Professor P 17

Curtis, Dr J 18

D

Dodgson, Professor M 19

Donovan, Professor R 20

Dulleck, Professor U 21

F

Faulkner, Dr N 22

Fielding, Associate Professor K 23

Fooken, Dr J 24

Frederiks, Dr E 25

G

Gangadharan, Professor L 26

Garbarino, Professor E 27

Ghafoori, Dr E 28

Goodwin, Dr D 29

Gordon, Associate Professor R 30

Grafton, Professor Q 31

Grant, Professor S 32

Gregory, Professor B 33

Grossman, Professor P 34

H

Haisken DeNew, Professor J 35

Hall, Dr N L 36

Harmon, Professor C 37

Haslam, Professor A 38

Head, Professor B 39

Henckel, Dr T 40

Hoffmann, Professor R 41

Hyde, Dr M 42

J

Jorgensen, Dr B 43

K

Kalayci, Dr K 44

Kashima, Professor Y 45

Kofman, Professor P 46

Kothe, Dr E 47

Kyonka, Dr E 48

L

Laban Peryman, Dr J 49

Leibbrandt, Associate Professor A 50

Louis, Associate Professor W 51

Lovallo, Professor D 52

M

Mayraz, Dr G 53

McDonald, Emeritus Professor I 54

McGarty, Professor C 55

Messinis, Dr G 56

Murawski, Dr C 57

N

Neelim, Dr A 58

Neumann, Professor D 59

Newell, Professor B 60

Newton, Dr J 61

O

Ortmann, Professor A 62

P

Page, Professor L 63

Palmeira, Associate Professor M 64

Payne, Professor A 65

Priest, Dr N 66

R

Reeson, Dr A 67

Rundle Thiele, Professor S 68

Russell Bennett, Professor R 69

S

Savage, Dr D 70

Schaffner, Dr M 71

Seethaler, Dr R 72

Sibly, Dr H 73

Sinning, Associate Professor M 74

Slonim, Professor R 75

Smith, Associate Professor L 76

T

Thorp, Professor S 77

Tolchard, Dr B 78

Torgler, Professor B 79

Tymula, Dr A 80

V

Vivalt, Dr E 81

W

Wakefield, Professor M 82

Wen, Associate Professor L 83

Wenzel, Associate Professor M 84

Werder, Dr O 85

Whelan, Associate Professor S 86

White, Professor K 87

Whitten, Dr S 88

Wright, Dr B 89

X

Xiao, Associate Professor E 90