Behavioural insights has been used by governments across the world to successfully improve outcomes in numerous policy, program, and service areas, including retirement savings, access to post-secondary education, on-time tax payment, and healthcare. The OECD notes that 202 organisations around the world have applied behavioural insights to public policy. Many of these organisations have established their own behavioural insight teams to research the field of behavioural economics. These teams include the Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU) in the New South Wales Government and the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) in the Australian Government. Meanwhile, Harvard University and the Government of British Columbia individually have a Behavioral Insights Group (BIG and BC BIG, respectively).
The North American operation of BIT is working with cities and their agencies, as well as other partners, across the United States and Canada, running over 25 randomized controlled trials in the first year of operation.
The BIT Canada office at Toronto, Ontario, opened in October 2019, working with all levels of government (municipal, provincial, and federal), as well as nonprofits and foundations. Clients of BIT Canada include the Government of Canada, Government of British Columbia, Rideau Hall Foundation, Ontario Securities Commission, University Health Network, and the Region of Peel. The Director of BIT Canada is Sasha Tregebov.
In 2016, Employment and Social Development Canada and the Privy Council Office's Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU; formerly Innovation Hub) launched the Behavioural Insights Community of Practice (BI CoP), a horizontal network of employees, practitioners, and researchers across the government that allows for sharing information, research methodologies, and experimentation results. This community of practice has an open model, wherein all Canadian public servants at all levels are able to take part. BI CoP also has a mandate to "include education, training, and awareness-building."
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Complementing the internal BI CoP, the IIU established a Behavioural Insights Network to bring together provincial, territorial, and municipal governments in Canada that work in the field of behavioural insights.
Various provincial governments in Canada also operate nudge units:
Government of British Columbia – Behavioral Insights Group (BC BIG), a unit of the BC Public Service Agency.
Government of Ontario – Ontario Behavioural Insights Unit, a unit of the Centre of Excellence for Evidence-Based Decision Making, Treasury Board Secretariat
United States
BIT has expanded to the United States, setting up an office in New York City as well as in Washington, DC. The New York office works both in the United States and internationally, whereas the DC office was established in early 2020 to focus on the United States itself, with partnerships at all levels of government.
During his terms, U.S. President Barack Obama sought to employ nudge theory to advance American domestic policy goals. In 2008, the federal government appointed Cass Sunstein, who helped develop the theory, as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
The federal Office of Science and Technology Policy also has a "Social and Behavioral Sciences Initiative," whose goal is "to translate academic research findings into improvements in federal program performance and efficiency using rigorous evaluation methods." On 15 September 2015, Obama issued an Executive Order that formally established the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team and directed government agencies to use insights from the social and behavioral sciences to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their work.
Oceania
BIT has an office in Sydney, Australia, and in Wellington, New Zealand. Expansion into Oceania began at a state-level, followed by the setup of teams on a sub-national level. The Wellington office was established in 2016, working with central and local government clients including Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Primary Industries, and the New Zealand Police.
In 2012, BIT Australia worked with the state Government of New South Wales (NSW) to establish the Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU) at the Department of Premier and Cabinet (now in the Department of Customer Service), intended to provide policy advice and support to NSW Government agencies. In 2016, the federal government created its own "Nudge Unit" at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet called the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) to apply behavioural insights into public policy.
Southeast Asia
Having worked with agencies of the Singaporean government since 2012, BIT opened a permanent office in the city-state in 2016 following successful work with the Ministry of Manpower, the Public Services Division of the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Ministry of Home Affairs, among other departments. Work in Singapore has focused on improving social policy in consideration to empiricism and social impact.
The ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership has expressed consideration for establishing a centralised behavioural economics team for the region as a modest investment which can deliver measurable benefits for ASEAN communities.
Europe
BIT's global headquarters are based in London, not too far from 10 Downing Street, where the team was originally formed.
BIT North was established in Manchester, UK, in 2016. Working in close partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, BIT North focuses on various local issues, from recycling to education to health and social care.
France
BIT has been operating in France since 2018, initially through a framework agreement with the Direction Interministerielle de la Transformation Publique (DITP; 'Interministerial Directorate of Public Transformation'), under the ministère de la Transformation et Fonction publiques ('Ministry of Transformation and Public Service').
As work grew in France, BIT opened its Paris office in 2020, its first permanent office in continental Europe, with a team of advisors transferring over from London. BIT France is headed by Laura Litvine.
Organizations
According to the OECD, 202 institutions globally have applied behavioural insights to public policy, and many of these firms have established their own behavioural insight teams to undergo behavioural research (including in behavioural economics) and policy solutions.
Harvard University (US) – Behavioral Insights Group (BIG)
NITI Aayog (India) – Behavioural Insights Unit
Rotman School of Management (Canada) – Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR)
UBC Sauder School of Business (Canada) – Decision Insights for Business and Society (DIBS)
University of Cambridge (UK) – Cambridge University Behavioural Insights Team (CUBIT)
PricewaterhouseCoopers (Canada)
