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Fiche de cours

Behavioural Public Administration and Nudge Theory

Administration publique comportementale et la théorie du Nudge

Faculté de gestion: Institut de hautes études en administration publique

Responsable(s): Pascale-Catherine Kirklies, Oliver Neumann

Période de validité: 2020 ->

Pas d'horaire défini.

Cours

Semestre d'automne
26 heures par semestre

Langue(s) d'enseignement: anglais
Public: Oui
Crédits: 3

Objectif

 

Students in this seminar will learn about the fundamental theories in the field of Behavioral Public Administration / Behavioral Economics, most of which are rooted in behavioral psychology. After learning about certain aspects of rational choice theory, which regards the human as a homo oeconomicus, they will get to know literature that challenges the notion that people are fully rational and carefully think about all options available. Students will also learn about various cognitive biases that were identified in past research and how these affect human decision-making, often leading to irrational decisions. Moreover, students will acquire knowledge on how to address specific cognitive biases through instruments such as Nudging and the MINDSPACE-approach to debias previously irrational or harmful decision-making results for the better. Another important aspect of the course will be the ethical challenges and risks associated with Behavioral Public Administration approaches, which students of this field should always consider very carefully. After taking this course, students should be able to apply state-of-the-art theories and methods related to Behavioral Public Administration in practice, and they should be able to successfully write a Master’s thesis in this field.

 

 

 

Contenu

Over the past decade, an increasing number of governments, for instance in the USA, France and the UK, have created specialized “Nudge” units to gently motivate citizens to make better decisions, both for society and for themselves. This trend is linked to the research field of Behavioral Public Administration. Grimmelikhuijsen, Jilke, Olsen and Tummers (2017) describe Behavioral Public Administration “as the interdisciplinary analysis of public administration from the micro-level perspective of individual behavior and attitudes by drawing on recent advances in our understanding of the underlying psychology and behavior of individuals and groups. This definition has three main components: (1) individuals and groups of citizens […] are the unit of analysis; (2) it emphasizes the behavior and attitudes of these people; and, most importantly, (3) it does so by integrating insights from psychology and the behavioral sciences into the study of public administration.” In this course, a particular focus will be on the role of cognitive biases and irrational behavior in causing public problems, such as environmentally harmful behavior despite good intentions or non-compliance with behavioral recommendations in pandemics. Furthermore, different approaches for public administrations as well as for other public and semi-public organizations to change harmful or irrational behavior in individuals will be explored and discussed. Central to this discussion will be the concept of Nudging. Nudging “is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. (Thaler and Sunstein 2009, 6)”. To give an example for a simple nudge: If in a meeting, apples and large pieces of cake were offered, participants would on average eat 12.7g of apples and 93.9g of cake. When apples were sliced up and smaller pieces of cake where offered, this would predictably change the amounts of apples (20.4g) and cake (61.2g) eaten, just by modifying the choice architecture. Similar nudges could be used to address other public problems such as obesity, alcohol abuse, organ donation, debt, and the shift to sustainable mobility. Ethical issues and possible adverse effects of nudging and similar approaches will also be central elements of this course. Oliver Neumann and his PhD students will moreover present some of their own studies in Behavioral Public Administration.

Evaluation

Each participant in the seminar will write a seminar paper (10 pages max.) on a select topic or practical application of Behavioral Public Administration and Nudge Theory. The grade of the seminar paper will count 60% towards the overall grade. Each participant will also give a course presentation of an academic study in Behavioral Public Administration and will create and present a poster on her or his seminar paper proposal idea during a poster session, which in sum will count 20%. In addition, each student will once serve as a discussant of another participant’s course presentation, which will count 10%. The remaining 10% will be graded with regard to regular active participation.

First Try

x             Document à rendre (Deg)

Re try 

x             Travail personnel à rendre hors session (R)

 

Bibliographie

See syllabus on Moodle

 

UtilisationCode facultéStatutCrédits
Enseignements supplémentaires MA en Politique et Management Publics (2013 ->) ›› Enseignements supplémentaires MA en Politique et Management PublicsOptionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Economie, Droit, Management publics, sciences politiques (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Economie, Droit, Management publics, sciences politiques (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Economie, Droit, Management publics, sciences politiques (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Economie, Droit, Management publics, sciences politiques (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2 ème année, Gouvernance internationale et administration publique (UNIL) (2019 ->) ›› Gouvernance internationale et administration publique (UNIL)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en Politique et Management Publics, 2ème année, Public Finance and Economics (UNIL) (2013 ->) ›› Public Finance and Economics (UNIL)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en Politique et Management Publics, 2 ème année, Transformation et innovation dans le secteur public (UNIL) (2018 ->) ›› Maîtrise universitaire en Politique et Management Publics, 2 ème année, Transformation et innovation dans le secteur public (UNIL)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Management der öffentlichen Verwaltung (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Öffentliches Recht (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Politikwissenschaft (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Maîtrise universitaire en politique et management publics, 2ème année, Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE) (2013 ->) ›› Volkswirtschaftslehre (UNIBE)Optionnel3.00
Plan libre en Politique et Management Publics (2018 ->) ›› Plan libre idheapOptionnel3.00
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