Exercising self-control is often difficult, whether declining a drink in order to drive home
safely, passing on the chocolate cake to stay on a diet, or ignoring text messages to finish …

Almost everyone struggles to act in their individual and collective best interests, particularly
when doing so requires forgoing a more immediately enjoyable alternative. Other than …

Many have argued that digital technologies such as smartphones and social media are
addictive. We develop an economic model of digital addiction and estimate it using a …

Behavioral development economics applies theories and ideas from psychology and
behavioral economics to the study of questions in development economics. We begin by …

This contribution critically assesses financial inclusion as an intervention in the development
space. It examines the turn from microfinance to financial inclusion, with the introduction of …

We review research that measures time preferences—ie, preferences over intertemporal
trade—offs. We distinguish between studies using financial flows, which we call “money …

We document three remarkable features of the Opower program, in which social comparison-
based home energy reports are repeatedly mailed to more than six million households …

First we discuss how extrinsic incentives may come into conflict with other motivations. For
example, monetary incentives from principals may change how tasks are perceived by …

The poor can and do save, but often use formal or informal instruments that have high risk,
high cost, and limited functionality. This could lead to undersaving compared to a world …

In 2008, the behavioral economist Richard Thaler and the legal scholar Cass Sunstein
published a book in which they advocated a novel approach to public policy based on the …