The so called “nudge theory” as popularized by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their bestselling 2008 book “Nudge,”—is about how to use behavioural interventions to get people to act in their best self interest. But, what does this look like when we think about this in the context of government policy? And, how, in particular, can this concept be mobilized to achieve more equitable policy outcomes? In this episode, we talk to Dilip Soman and Alia Kamlani to answer these questions.

Featured guests: 

 

Dilip Soman is Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics, and Director of Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR). He is also the author or editor of many books, including Managing Customer Value, The Last Mile, The Behaviorally Informed Organization, and Behavioral Science in the Wild.  

 

Alia Kamlani is a Partner at Deloitte in Government & Public Services. She is a seasoned public sector transformation partner and has spent her career working alongside senior executives and political leaders to develop business cases, engage stakeholders, develop strategic options, and manage numerous large-scale transformations across North America.  

 

Moderator: Kate Bezanson is Special advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada and Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Brock University. She’s also a Faculty Research Fellow at GATE. She specializes and advises in the areas of social and family policy, gender, carework, constitutional law, political economy, and federalism.  

 

Gender Analytics is a way to analyze your products, services, processes and policies with a gender lens to uncover hidden opportunities for innovation and improved effectiveness by considering gender, race, Indigeneity, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other identities. Learn more here: www.genderanalytics.org  

 

Want to hear more from the Institute for Gender and the Economy? Check out our signature podcast series, Busted, which busts prominent myths about gender and the economy! 

 

Produced by: Sarah Kaplan, Lechin Lu and Carmina Ravanera  

Edited by: Ian Gormely