Nudging in Education

64 Pages Posted: 2 May 2018

See all articles by Mette Damgaard

Mette Damgaard

Aarhus University - Department of Economics and Business Economics

Helena Skyt Nielsen

Aarhus University - Department of Economics and Business Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

Can we nudge children, adolescents and their parents to make better decisions on education? And can we nudge teachers to support and encourage better decision making? Education decisions are taken at young ages and involve immediate costs and potential, future benefits. In such settings behavioural barriers (e.g. lack of self-control, limited attention and social norms) likely influence choices and this may motivate the use of low cost 'nudges' to gently push behaviour in the desired direction.Our review of nudging interventions shows that while nudging often has positive effects, the greatest effects often arise for individuals affected most by the behavioural barrier targeted by the intervention. Hence understating underlying behavioural mechanisms is crucial. Negative effects may arise in situations where nudges potentially crowd-out intrinsic motivation, if nudges pressurise individuals, or in situations where the choice architect has an insufficient understanding of behavioural mechanisms.

Keywords: behavioural bias, boost policies, human capital investment

JEL Classification: D03, D04, I20

Suggested Citation

Damgaard, Mette and Nielsen, Helena Skyt, Nudging in Education. IZA Discussion Paper No. 11454, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3170243 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3170243

Mette Damgaard (Contact Author)

Aarhus University - Department of Economics and Business Economics ( email )

Fuglesangs Alle 4
Aarhus, 8210
Denmark

Helena Skyt Nielsen

Aarhus University - Department of Economics and Business Economics ( email )

Fuglesangs Alle 4
Aarhus, 8210
Denmark

HOME PAGE: http://person.au.dk/hnielsen@econ.au.dk

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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