Dr. Rotem Dvir, Assistant Research Scientist at ISTPP, published study, “Nudging citizens Co-production: Assessing multiple behavioral strategies,” in Policy Science. The study focuses on assessing the effectiveness of using behavioral nudges to motivate a higher degree of citizen coproduction: participation in government-led programs. Using a multi-step experimental design, the study compares three common behavioral strategies and assesses individuals’ decisions whether to join government programs in two policy areas: Natural hazard resilience and public health. The study develops an argument about the benefits of using nudging – behavioral interventions, to encourage public co-production. Since citizens participation in government initiatives is voluntary, Dvir suggests using nudging interventions to encourage greater public participation in programs that have both individual as well as broad societal benefits such as joining flood insurance programs and opt-in to become an organ donor. The experimental results offer lessons to policymakers about ways to motivate voluntary citizen engagement with public programs. Overall, this research proposes an innovative approach to study a central concept in public administration – coproduction, using a behavioral public policy approach and empirical tools.
