ABSTRACT
Behavioral public policy (BPP) is often treated as a single type, as witnessed, for example, in the popular use of the “nudge” label to encompass all BPP and also in the academic discussion of the pros and cons of BPP generally. A municipality might offer consumers a choice of energy providers, setting a slightly more expensive but more sustainable provider as the default. A lot of evidence for such context sensitivities can be found in experimental studies of BPP. Most experiments investigate the effect size of an intervention on subjects’ behavior, either in a laboratory or in some specific field context. Recorded effect sizes for many behavioral interventions vary widely. Information policies are not equally sensitive to all of these factors, though. Information about consequences is not likely to be sensitive to technological access, nor is procedural information to peer network.
