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Behavioural economics is increasingly being used to inform and develop policy interventions. Perhaps the most visible use of behavioural economics has been the development of 'nudge' policies, which stress that changing the way choices are presented, or changing the environment in which decisions are made, can substantially alter behaviour. However, the lessons from behavioural economics run deeper than nudging alone and have enormous implications for more traditional policy levers as well. This report highlights this point through a detailed examination of the behavioural insights for tax and benefit policy.
Authors

Andrew Leicester

CPP Director, IFS Research Director
Imran is Professor of Economics at University College London and Director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the IFS.

Deputy Research Director
Peter joined in 2009. He has published several papers on the microeconomics of household spending and labour supply decisions over the life-cycle.
Report details
- DOI
- 10.1920/co.ifs.2012.0124
- Publisher
- IFS
Suggested citation
A, Leicester and P, Levell and I, Rasul. (2012). Tax and benefit policy: insights from behavioural economics. London: IFS. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/tax-and-benefit-policy-insights-behavioural-economics-0 (accessed: 10 February 2025).
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