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Ideas42

New York, New York

Grants

2016 (2 years 1 month)
$375,000

Founded in 2008 by scholars from prominent economics departments in the United States, ideas42 is a laboratory for applied behavioral economics that employs social scientists, policy experts, and program practitioners to use behavioral insights to solve difficult social problems. Working with governments and nonprofits, ideas42 staff members construct and test interventions and policy fixes that have been shown to improve the design and effectiveness of programs and policies across a wide range of issues, from college enrollment to energy savings. Given the fiscal and policy constraints that city governments currently face, these behavioral levers are a potentially powerful set of policy tools for reform, yet the formal implementation of these principles within city government has only recently been attempted in the United States. This grant provides renewed and final support for a behavioral design team within the City of Chicago municipal government to apply insights from behavioral science to improve city functions, testing interventions that improve public health, increase financial inclusion, and enhance the functions of local government.

2015 (2 years)
$450,000

ideas42 is a laboratory for applied behavioral economics that employs social scientists, policy experts, and program practitioners to use behavioral insights to solve difficult social problems. I The proposed grant supports the development of a research and design approach to attract more youth to the Chicago City of Learning website to establish their user accounts and sustain their involvement with activities of the Chicago City of Learning by increasing the number of badges they earn and deepening their participation in Connected Learning pathways. Pathways enable young people to gain knowledge and expertise in an area of interest (e.g., game design, fashion, writing) in connection with friends, mentors, and institutions that share and support this common interest, and can connect that interest to career or academic opportunities.

2014 (1 year)
$375,000

ideas42 is a laboratory for applied behavioral economics that employs social scientists and program practitioners to use behavioral insights to solve social problems. Given the fiscal and policy constraints that city governments currently face, these quick and inexpensive behavioral levers are a potentially powerful set of policy tools for reform in diverse areas that range from energy savings to social benefits access. ideas42 will use this grant to establish a behavioral insights team within the City of Chicago municipal government to apply insights from behavioral science to city functions.