Nudging in field interventions of anti-poverty based on randomized controlled trials

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1042.2020.01953

Abstract

Abstract:

The eradication of poverty is a top priority for developing countries and the most important goal of the Millennium Development Goals all over the world. Behavioral economists and development economists are employing the randomized control trials and nudge techniques to help the poor get rid of poverty within the globe. The current nudge action that uses randomized control experiments to help poor people overcome behavioral deviations is mainly manifested in helping poor people improve their current material conditions and enhance future security. The research and practice of random control experiments and nudging technologies in China have also effectively helped poor farmers improve their physical and mental health, and economic income. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen the research on the external validity test of randomized control experiments and nudging techniques, the similarities and differences among them, and combine with the endogenous power of poverty alleviation to formulate more simple, efficient, and strict poverty alleviation policies and projects.

Key words: poverty, nudge, randomized control trials, behavioral development economics

CLC Number:

B849: C91

XU Fu-ming, HUANG Long, ZHANG Hui. Nudging in field interventions of anti-poverty based on randomized controlled trials[J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2020, 28(11): 1953-1960.

References 51

[1]	常芳, 史耀疆, 李凡, 岳爱, 杨斌, 杨矗 . ( 2013). 信息干预对留守儿童身体健康的影响——来自陕西省的随机干预试验. 农业技术经济, ( 4), 117-125.
[2]	傅安国, 黄希庭 . ( 2018-03-05). 开展心理精准扶贫破解世代贫困难题. 中国社会科学报, p 6.
[3]	傅安国, 张再生, 郑剑虹, 岳童, 林肇宏, 吴娜, 黄希庭 . ( 2020). 脱贫内生动力机制的质性探究. 心理学报, 52( 1), 66-80.
[4]	高考, 年旻 . ( 2016-04-06). 融入贫困人群心理特征的精准扶贫研究. 光明日报, p15.
[5]	郭晋晖 . ( 2017-09-25). 补民生短板: 四川一个城区的劳动收入奖励实验. 第一财经, p 6.
[6]	何贵兵, 李纾, 梁竹苑 . ( 2018). 以小拨大:行为决策助推社会发展. 心理学报, 50( 8), 803-813.
[7]	黄湛冰, 刘磊 . ( 2020). 轻推式干预未被中国广泛运用的原因: 行为经济学分析. 公共管理与政策评论, 9( 2), 55-68.
[8]	史耀疆, 王欢, 罗仁福, 张林秀, 刘承芳, 易红梅, … Scott Rozelle . ( 2013). 营养干预对陕西贫困农村学生身心健康的影响研究. 中国软科学, ( 10), 48-58.
[9]	汪三贵, 曾小溪 . ( 2018). 后2020贫困问题初探. 河海大学学报(哲学社会科学版), 20(02), 7-13+89.
[10]	徐富明, 黄龙, 张慧, 相鹏, 刘腾飞, 李亚红 . ( 2020). 行为贫困陷阱的心理机制与管理对策:基于认知与动机双视角. 心理科学进展, 28( 5), 681-691.
[11]	徐富明, 张慧, 马红宇, 邓颖, 史燕伟, 李欧 . ( 2017). 贫困问题:基于心理学的视角. 心理科学进展, 25( 8), 1431-1440.
[12]	张建华, 杨少瑞 . ( 2017). 反贫困随机对照实验研究新进展. 经济学动态, ( 3), 123-135.
[13]	Ashraf, N., Karlan, D., & Yin, W . ( 2006). Tying odysseus to the mast: Evidence from a commitment savings product in the Philippines. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121( 2), 635-672. doi: 10.1162/qjec.2006.121.2.635 URL
[14]	Banerjee, A., & Duflo, E. ( 2007). The economic lives of the poor. Journal of Economic Perspective, 21( 1), 141-167. doi: 10.1257/jep.21.1.141 URL
[15]	Banerjee, A., & Duflo, E. ( 2011). Poor economics: A radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty. Noida, India: Random House Publishers.
[16]	Banerjee, A., Duflo, E., Goldberg, N., Karlan, D., Osei, R., Pariente, W., .. Udry, C . ( 2015). A multifaceted program causes lasting progress for the very poor: Evidence from six countries. Science, 348( 6236), 1260799. doi: 10.1126/science.1260799 URL pmid: 25977558
[17]	Barrera-Osoria, F., Bertrand, M., Linden, L. L., & Perez-Calle, F . ( 2011). Improving the design of conditional transfer programs: Evidence from a randomized education experiment in Colombia. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(2), 167-195. doi: 10.1257/app.3.2.167 URL
[18]	Carvalho, L. S., Meier, S., & Wang, S. W . ( 2016). Poverty and Economic Decision-Making: Evidence from Changes in Financial Resources at Payday. American Economic Review, 106( 2), 260-284 doi: 10.1257/aer.20140481 URL pmid: 28003681
[19]	Chronic Poverty Advisory Network. ( 2008). Chronic poverty report 2008-2009: Escaping poverty traps.
[20]	Chronic Poverty Advisory Network. ( 2014). The Chronic poverty report 2014-2015: The road to zero extreme poverty.
[21]	Congdon, W. J., & Shankar, M. ( 2015). The white house social and behavioral sciences team: Lessons learned from year one. Behavioral Science and Policy, 1( 2), 77-86.
[22]	Datta, S., & Mullainathan, S. ( 2014). Behavioral design: A new approach to development policy. Review of Income and Wealth, 60( 1), 7-35. doi: 10.1111/roiw.2014.60.issue-1 URL
[23]	Duflo, E., Glennerster, R., & Kremer., M . ( 2007). Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit. Handbook of Development Economics, 4, 3895-3962.
[24]	Duflo, E., Kremer, M., & Robinson, J . ( 2008). How high are rates of return to fertilizer? evidence from field experiments in Kenya. American Economic Review, 98( 2), 482-488. doi: 10.1257/aer.98.2.482 URL
[25]	Duflo, E., Kremer, M., & Robinson, J . ( 2011). Nudging farmers to use fertilizer: Theory and experimental evidence from Kenya. American Economic Review, 101( 6), 2350-2390. doi: 10.1257/aer.101.6.2350 URL
[26]	Dupas, P., & Robinson, J. ( 2013). Why don’t the poor save more? Evidence from health savings experiments. American Economic Review, 103( 4), 1138-1171. doi: 10.1257/aer.103.4.1138 URL pmid: 29533047
[27]	Evans, D., Kremer, M., & Ngatia, M . ( 2013). The Impact of Distributing School Uniforms on Children’s Education in Kenya. Gender Impact: the World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database. Washington, DC: World Bank.
[28]	Gandy, K., King, K., Hurle, P. S., Bustin, C., & Glazebrook, K . ( 2016). Poverty and decision-making: How behavioural science can improve opportunity in the UK. Behavioural insight team.
[29]	Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Delton, A. W., & Robertson, T. E . ( 2011). The influence of mortality and socioeconomic status on risk and delayed rewards: A life history theory approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100( 6), 1015-1026. doi: 10.1037/a0022403 URL pmid: 21299312
[30]	Halpern, D. ( 2015). Inside the nudge unit: How small changes can make a big difference. London: Random House.
[31]	Halpern, D., & Sanders, M. ( 2016). Nudging by government: Progress, impact and lessons learnt. Behavioral Science and Policy, 2( 2), 52-65. doi: 10.1353/bsp.2016.0015 URL
[32]	Haushofer, J., & Fehr, E. (2014). On the psychology of poverty. Science, 344( 6186), 862-867. doi: 10.1126/science.1232491 URL pmid: 24855262
[33]	Haushofer, J., & Shapiro, J. ( 2016). The short-term impact of unconditional cash transfers to the poor: Experimental evidence from Kenya. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134( 4), 1973-2042.
[34]	Haushofer, J., Chemin, M., Jang, C., & Abraham, J . ( 2019). Economic and psychological effects of health insurance and cash transfers: Evidence from a randomized experiment in Kenya. Working paper. URL pmid: 12233488
[35]	Levitt, S. D., & List, J. ( 2009). Field experiments in economics: The past, the present, and the future. European Economic Review, 53( 1), 1-18. doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2008.12.001 URL
[36]	, Kahneman, D, & Tversky, A . ( 1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263-291. doi: 10.2307/1914185 URL
[37]	Karlan, D., & Appel, J. ( 2011). More than good intentions: How a new economics is helping to solve global poverty. Alliance, 29( 6), 773-775.
[38]	Karlan, D., Ratan, A. L., & Zinman, J . ( 2014). Savings by and for the poor: A research review and agenda. Review of Income and Wealth, 60( 1), 36-78. doi: 10.1111/roiw.12101 URL pmid: 25792764
[39]	Klemick, H., & Yesuf, M. ( 2008). Do Discount Rates Change over Time? Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia. EfD Discussion Paper 08-06. Washington, DC: Environment for Development Initiative and Resources for the Future.
[40]	Kremer, M., Miguel, E., Mullainathan, S., Zwane, A. P., Berens, J., Bukeke, L., … Spence, P. W. S . ( 2009). Making water safe: Price, persuasion, peers, promoters, or product design? Working paper. URL pmid: 12233488
[41]	Kremer, M., Rao, G., & Schilbach, F . ( 2019). Behavioral development economics. Handbook of Behavioral Economics, 2, 344-458.
[42]	Lourenco, J. S., Ciriolo, E., Almeida, S. R., & Troussard, X . ( 2016). Behavioural insights applied to policy: European report 2016. European Union.
[43]	Miller, G., Luo, R., Zhang, L., Sylvia, S., Shi, Y., Foo, P., Zhao, Q., .. Farnsworth, H. F . ( 2012). Effectiveness of provider incentives for anaemia reduction in rural China: A cluster randomized trial. BMJ, 345, e4809. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e4809 URL pmid: 22842354
[44]	Schilbach, F., Schofield, H., & Mullainathan, S . ( 2016). The psychological lives of the poor. American Economic Review, 106( 5), 435-440. doi: 10.1257/aer.p20161101 URL pmid: 29547249
[45]	Schultz, T. P . ( 2004). School subsidies for the poor: Evaluating the Mexican progresa poverty program. Journal of Development Economics, 74( 1), 199-250. doi: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2003.12.009 URL
[46]	Shiv, B., & Fedorikhin, A. ( 1999). Heart and Mind in Conflict: The Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making. Journal of Consumer Research, 26( 3), 278-292. doi: 10.1086/jcr.1999.26.issue-3 URL
[47]	Sunstein, C. R., Reisch, L. A., & Rauber, J . ( 2017). A worldwide consensus on nudging? Not quite, but almost. Regulation & Governance, 12( 1), 3-22.
[48]	Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. .( 2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness New Haven, CT: Yale University Press Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
[49]	United Nations. ( 2015). The millennium development goals report 2015.
[50]	World Bank. ( 2000). World development report 2000/2001: Attacking poverty. Washington. DC: World Bank Group.
[51]	World Bank. ( 2015). World development report: Mind, society, and behavior. Washington. DC: World Bank Group.