Michael Hiscox

The behavioural economics unit of the federal government has launched a free online course for public sector workers to help them make better policy decisions. 

Labor will introduce name-blind recruiting in the Australian Public Service in an effort to reduce bias in hiring if it wins government.

The Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government has begun podcasting, easing into the format by posting an interview between a staff member and experimental economist

While government agencies are seriously tackling unconscious bias, there is still much more work to be done to ensure women and minority groups have equal access to employment.

The Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government will soon be led by an American professor from an Australian university, replacing its current chief, who is an Australian professor at a university in the United States.

From a scientific point of view, the standard way public policy is implemented at scale with little testing is extremely reckless. But human behaviour is “predictably irrational” and experimental trials offer policy assurance.

For public servants who want to use behavioural economics, randomised controlled trials are a must. The PM’s nudge unit is working to build the capability.

Simply rolling out an untested idea often has fewer roadblocks than researching whether it works, but that doesn’t make it ethical. Behavioural insights experts in government discuss the do’s and don’t’s of their research.