How Behavioral Science can Nudge Pregnant Women to Attend Prenatal Care in Haiti (English)
Haiti has the highest maternal and neo-natal mortality rates in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Based on current trends, Haiti is unlikely to meet the United Nations' sustainable development goals to reduce the maternal mortality ratio to less than seventy maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. ... See More + Low rates of prenatal and postnatal care, and institutional births, are all contributing factors. In an effort to provide actionable ideas to reduce mortality rates, the World Bank, with support from the umbrella facility for gender equality, embarked on a diagnostic to identify structural and behavioral barriers preventing women from attending prenatal care visits, and from delivering at a health institution. This brief uncovers the drivers to increase safe birth deliveries in Haiti. See Less -
Document Type: Brief Report No.: 138421 Document Date: JUN 18, 2019
How Behavioral Science can Nudge Pregnant Women to Attend Prenatal Care in Haiti (French)
Using Behavioral Insights to Increase Safer Birth Deliveries in Haiti (French)
Haiti has the highest maternal and neo-natal mortality rates in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Low rates of prenatal and postnatal care, and institutional births, contribute to high levels of maternal and neo-natal mortality rates. ... See More + In Haiti, most women especially the poorest deliver at home with the help of a matron (traditional birth attendant). The objective of this diagnostic is to use a behavioral methodology to uncover the drivers to increase safe birth deliveries in Haiti. The novelty of this diagnostic relies on the use of behavioral science techniques to examine a wider set of influences, paying attention to the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect what people think and do. The behavioral methodology identifies barriers interfering in the decision-making process of pregnant women when seeking, reaching, and receiving care. This note is structured as follows: section two outlines background and context, while section three explains the methodology followed in this diagnostic. Key insights are presented in section four. Section five provides key solutions to improve safe birth deliveries. Finally, section six concludes with a short description of a potential intervention. See Less -
Author: Llopis Abella,Jimena; Perge,Emilie Bernadette; Mathurin,Tania Mindy; Afif,Zeina Disclosure Status: Disclosed
Saving Mothers' and Babies' Lives with Behavioral Science in Haiti – Infographic (French)
Looking at Gender and Socio-Emotional Skills Signaling in Turkey (English)
In the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, only one in two working-age adults has a job, and the region is experiencing more and more limited job creation to absorb the working-age population. ... See More + In some countries, only three out of ten women are working or looking for jobs, and across all countries, they have a harder time finding a job and spend more time looking for one. At the same time, employers complain that, despite high unemployment, difficulty finding workers with the "right" skills – including socioemotional skills, such as resilience, motivation, and the ability to work in teams and to take initiative – is one of the main constraints to their usiness. But it is not easy for job applicants to signal that they have these sought-after skills when submitting a job application. Attention in CVs and job ads is placed on detailing education and work experience, which employers use as imperfect skills proxies in their decision of whom to consider for a job. In collaboration with the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), the World Bank set out to test (1) whether socioemotional skill signals in CVs arevalued by employers at the initial hiring stage (evaluation of CVs and selection for interviews), and (2) whether the same socioemotional skill signals are perceived differently in male versus female candidates' CVs. We chose to study this issue in two large cities in Turkey – Istanbul and Ankara – due to the size and dynamism of the labor market, as well as the salience of gender issues and skills constraints (Turkey has the lowest female labor force participation rate among the OECD countries, and one that is well below the country's level of development and education of the population). Turkey also has had an active policy dialogue between the World Bank and government counterparts on labor, gender, and skills; and strong partnerships with donors to advance on closing gender gaps in economic participation. The case in point is that the study was funded by the World Bank's Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality. See Less -
Document Type: Brief Report No.: 136669 Document Date: MAY 01, 2019
Changing Aspirations and Stereotypes in the Maldives (English)
Countries across the globe suffer from high rates of youth unemployment and inactivity. The Maldives are not immune. Despite efforts by the government to increase employment opportunities among young Maldivians, including the establishment of employment quotas for nationals, results have been underwhelming. ... See More + Young people face barriers such as social and gender norms around women's role in society, absence of role models to look up to, and few jobs perceived as "suitable" for youth, especially for girls. Parental control and influence on youth's decision-making is strong, and depending on the child's gender, parents have different career preferences. See Less -
Using Behavioral Insights to Increase Safer Birth Deliveries in Haiti (English)
Document Type: Working Paper Report No.: 138418 Document Date: MAY 01, 2019
Collaboration for Tax Compliance in Kosovo (English)
Tax collection is a development challenge in Kosovo, one of the poorest and youngest countries in Europe in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, demographics, and statehood. ... See More + Limited tax revenues hamper the government's ability to address economic cycles. Between 2011 and 2017, total government revenue amounted to about 14 percent of GDP, below the average of 19 percent among countries in Europe and Central Asia. Unlike other countries that collect significant nontaxrevenues (for example, from natural resources), the Kosovar government relies on taxes for more than 85 percent of its revenues. Mobilizing tax revenues is therefore critical from both an efficiency perspective (to ensure that taxes are collected at the lowest cost for the public administration) and an equity perspective (to ensure that all taxpayers comply by declaring and paying their due taxes). See Less -
Document Type: Brief Report No.: 135069 Document Date: MAR 04, 2019
Saving Mothers' and Babies' Lives with Behavioral Science in Haiti – Infographic (English)
Document Type: Brief Report No.: 138855 Document Date: JAN 01, 2019
Behavioral Science Around the World: Profiles of 10 Countries (English)
With an increasing number of public bodies became interested in leveraging behavioral insights for improving policies and services, questions have emerged around how best to integrate this function into government operations, how projects should be selected, and what guidelines can aid public bodies in incorporating behavioral insights. ... See More + This report aims to capture both the spread and form of behavioral science in 10 countries, selected based on being innovators or early adopters in the field: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Peru, Singapore, the U.S., and the UK. We hope that the experiences of these ten countries – including information on how public bodies within these countries are integrating behavioral insights, how they are working to apply behavioral insights, and how these behavioral functions have been structured and staffed – can serve as useful information for all those working to leverage behavioral science to improve society. Given the expansion of behavioral science within governments; the shifting behavioral insights landscape; and the limit to, and wide distribution of, public information; this report presents a representative snapshot of the state of behavioral science within the governments of the profiled countries. See Less -
Document Type: Brief Report No.: 132610 Document Date: DEC 01, 2018
Author: Afif,Zeina; Islan,William Wade; Calvo-Gonzalez,Oscar; Dalton,Abigail Goodnow Disclosure Status: Disclosed
Measuring Food Consumed Away from Home in Vietnam (English)
While it may be obvious that the type and quantity of food individuals consume in general can be animportant metric of individual and family welfare, looking specifically at food individuals eat outside their home may not seem particularly important. ... See More + But for policy makers, accurate knowledge about the amount of food consumed away from home (FAFH) can be essential to accurately understand trends in poverty and inform policy accordingly. See Less -
Document Type: Brief Report No.: 132002 Document Date: NOV 01, 2018
Instilling a Growth Mindset in South Africa (English)
In South Africa, a Growth Mindset intervention delivered with classroom technology had big impacts on student attitudes towards learning, and student math grades. ... See More + See Less -
Journey for Forest Landscape Programs in Mexico : Identifying Women's Behavioral Bottlenecks - Infographic (English)
Document Type: Correspondence Report No.: 136741 Document Date: AUG 22, 2018
Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit : Applying Behavioral Science to End Poverty and Enhance Equity : Mind, behavior, and development unit : applying behavioral science to end poverty and enhance equity (Arabic)
Policy makers are increasingly turning to behavioral science to help tackle intractable policy challenges, including increasing student learning, raising savings rates, promoting energy and resource conservation, increasing productivity, improving sanitation practices, strengthening institutions, and reducing corruption. ... See More + At the World Bank, the Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD) is using behaviorally informed research to make development policies more effective. Standard development policy typically targets financial resources, laws, or incentives – the conventional tools used by policy makers. And because a key insight from behavioral science is that behavior and decision making are contextual, interventions rely on careful diagnostics and involve an iterative process of testing and adaption. See Less -
Document Type: Brief Report No.: 128784 Document Date: JUL 24, 2018
Document also available in: English, French, Spanish Disclosure Status: Disclosed
Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit : Applying Behavioral Science to End Poverty and Enhance Equity : Mind, behavior, and development unit : applying behavioral science to end poverty and enhance equity (Spanish)
Document also available in: English, Arabic, French Disclosure Status: Disclosed
Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit : Applying Behavioral Science to End Poverty and Enhance Equity : Mind, behavior, and development unit : applying behavioral science to end poverty and enhance equity (French)
Document also available in: English, Arabic, Spanish Disclosure Status: Disclosed
Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit : Applying Behavioral Science to End Poverty and Enhance Equity (English)
Document also available in: Arabic, French, Spanish Disclosure Status: Disclosed
Even Teachers are Bested by Their Biases (English)
Deep-rooted biases can inhibit our best intentions. Research has found that we all have unconscious biases and preferences related to gender, race, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, or other aspects of identity. ... See More + Unconscious bias is just that unconscious, and often unrelated to our goals and intentions. This brief covers an experiment in Peru which shows that when prompted by subtle socio-economic cues, teachers exhibit unconscious biases that significantly affect their evaluation of low-income students. See Less -
Document Type: Brief Report No.: 125908 Document Date: APR 26, 2018
How to Encourage School Principals Not to Play Hooky (English)
This research shows that teacher and administration absences can negatively affect students' reading and math abilities.Working with the Peruvian Ministry of Education (MINEDU) and the UK's Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), we tested whether attendance could be influenced by sending different behaviorally informed messages by email. ... See More + One email message conveyed the current level of attendance of one's school district the "social norm" while the other built on teachers' pro-social motivations by highlighting the positive effect of teacher attendance on student performance. See Less -
Walk a Mile in Her Shoes (English)
See More + JUN 18, 2019 138421 Brief
See More + MAY 01, 2019 136669 Brief
See More + MAY 01, 2019 138418 Working Paper
See More + MAR 04, 2019 135069 Brief
See More + JAN 01, 2019 138855 Brief
See More + DEC 01, 2018 132610 Brief
See More + NOV 01, 2018 132002 Brief
See More + AUG 22, 2018 136741 Correspondence
See More + JUL 24, 2018 128784 Brief English, French, Spanish
See More + JUL 24, 2018 128784 Brief English, Arabic, French
See More + JUL 24, 2018 128784 Brief English, Arabic, Spanish
See More + JUL 24, 2018 128784 Brief Arabic, French, Spanish
See More + APR 26, 2018 125908 Brief