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Behavioural economics has offered many insights into decision-making processes, and experimentally, many cognitive biases have been identified, nudges have been tested etc. Reading all such literature, it seems tempting to use techniques leveraging such biases in the real world. But recently I read that many startups tried using such techniques and saw not the intended, but in many cases the opposite effect of the applied interventions. The reason being of course, that they did not take into account the ifs and buts of the laboratory setting.

I wanted to know, if there are any resources like books, or courses etc. that teaches how to properly apply behavioural interventions in the real world. For example, if I have to design a menu for a canteen, how do I know in what order to list the items, or where to place them, to get the desired outcome?

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    $\begingroup$ You diagnose the problems with applying behavioral economics well, but then it seems like you are asking for a perfect prediction on someone's behavior rather than a model of it. Behavioral economics cannot give you that, the exact workings of the human mind are mostly unknown. $\endgroup$ – Giskard Mar 11 '20 at 8:01
  • $\begingroup$ I understand, but are there resources that can at least roughly guide in applying the interventions, I mean as best as possible, not more than that? $\endgroup$ – Ishan Kashyap Hazarika Mar 11 '20 at 9:29
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    $\begingroup$ Arguably, even researchers in behavioral economics are still trying to figure out how to properly apply insights from their research in practice. One prominent testing ground is the Behavioral Insight Team, which actively conducts randomized experiments to ascertain the efficacy of various behavioral economic findings as well as to delineate the boundaries of their applicability. $\endgroup$ – Herr K. Mar 11 '20 at 16:17
  • $\begingroup$ OK, thank you both for the comments. $\endgroup$ – Ishan Kashyap Hazarika Mar 11 '20 at 17:58

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