John Beshears
Albert J. Weatherhead, Jr. Professor of Business Administration
Albert J. Weatherhead, Jr. Professor of Business Administration
John Beshears is the Albert J. Weatherhead Jr. Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit, teaching the second-year MBA course "Negotiation." He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Before joining HBS, he was an assistant professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Professor Beshears’s primary research area is behavioral economics, the field that combines insights from psychology and economics to understand individual decision making and market outcomes. He collaborates with organizations to study how managers can change the design of decision-making environments — for example by altering the way choices are presented or by adjusting the process that is used to select options from a menu — to influence the decisions of customers and employees. In recent work, he has examined participation in retirement savings plans, household investment decisions, and health-care choices.
John Beshears is the Albert J. Weatherhead Jr. Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit, teaching the second-year MBA course "Negotiation." He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Before joining HBS, he was an assistant professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Professor Beshears’s primary research area is behavioral economics, the field that combines insights from psychology and economics to understand individual decision making and market outcomes. He collaborates with organizations to study how managers can change the design of decision-making environments — for example by altering the way choices are presented or by adjusting the process that is used to select options from a menu — to influence the decisions of customers and employees. In recent work, he has examined participation in retirement savings plans, household investment decisions, and health-care choices.
The National Institutes of Health, Social Security Administration, FINRA Investor Education Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, TIAA Institute, and National Science Foundation have supported Professor Beshears’s research. His work has been published in journals including Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Marketing Research, Psychological Science, Management Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; it has also been featured in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Time.
After earning his Ph.D. in business economics at HBS, Professor Beshears was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He received an AB in economics from Harvard University.
- Journal Articles
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- Beshears, John, Ruofei Guo, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and James J. Choi. "Automatic Enrollment with a 12% Default Contribution Rate." Journal of Pension Economics & Finance (forthcoming). (Pre-published online September 11, 2023.) View Details
- Reiff, Joseph, Hengchen Dai, John Beshears, Katherine L. Milkman, and Shlomo Benartzi. "Save More Today or Tomorrow: The Role of Urgency in Precommitment Design." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 60, no. 6 (December 2023): 1095–1113. View Details
- Patel, Mitesh S., Katherine L. Milkman, Linnea Gandhi, Heather N. Graci, Dena Gromet, Hung Ho, Joseph S. Kay, Timothy W. Lee, Jake Rothschild, Modupe Akinola, John Beshears, Jonathan E. Bogard, Alison Buttenheim, Christopher Chabris, Gretchen B. Chapman, James J. Choi, Hengchen Dai, Craig R. Fox, Amir Goren, Matthew D. Hilchey, Jillian Hmurovic, Leslie John, Dean Karlan, Melanie Kim, David Laibson, Cait Lamberton, Brigitte C. Madrian, Michelle N. Meyer, Maria Modanu, Jimin Nam, Todd Rogers, Renante Rondina, Silvia Saccardo, Maheen Shermohammed, Dilip Soman, Jehan Sparks, Caleb Warren, Megan Weber, Ron Berman, Chalanda N. Evans, Seung Hyeong Lee, Christopher K. Snider, Eli Tsukayama, Christophe Van den Bulte, Kevin G. Volpp, and Angela L. Duckworth. "A Randomized Trial of Behavioral Nudges Delivered through Text Messages to Increase Influenza Vaccination among Patients with an Upcoming Primary Care Visit." American Journal of Health Promotion 37, no. 3 (2023): 324–332. View Details
- Beshears, John, Richard T. Mason, and Shlomo Benartzi. "How to Choose a Default." Behavioral Science & Policy 8, no. 1 (2022): 1–15. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Peter Maxted. "Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects." AEA Papers and Proceedings 112 (May 2022): 136–141. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and William L. Skimmyhorn. "Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt." Journal of Finance 77, no. 1 (February 2022): 403–447. View Details
- Beshears, John, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, and Shlomo Benartzi. "Using Fresh Starts to Nudge Increased Retirement Savings." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 167 (November 2021): 72–87. View Details
- Beshears, John, Hae Nim Lee, Katherine L. Milkman, Robert Mislavsky, and Jessica Wisdom. "Creating Exercise Habits Using Incentives: The Trade-off Between Flexibility and Routinization." Management Science 67, no. 7 (July 2021): 4139–4171. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Active Choice, Implicit Defaults, and the Incentive to Choose." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 163 (March 2021): 6–16. View Details
- Milkman, Katherine L., Dena Gromet, Hung Ho, Joseph S. Kay, Timothy W. Lee, Pepi Pandiloski, Yeji Park, Aneesh Rai, Max Bazerman, John Beshears, Lauri Bonacorsi, Colin Camerer, Edward Chang, Gretchen Chapman, Robert Cialdini, Hengchen Dai, Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Ayelet Fishbach, James J. Gross, Samantha Horn, Alexa Hubbard, Steven J. Jones, Dean Karlan, Tim Kautz, Erika Kirgios, Joowon Klusowski, Ariella Kristal, Rahul Ladhania, Jens Ludwig, George Loewenstein, Barbara Mellers, Sendhil Mullainathan, Silvia Saccardo, Jann Spiess, Gaurav Suri, Joachim H. Talloen, Jamie Taxer, Yaacov Trope, Lyle Ungar, Kevin G. Volpp, Ashley V. Whillans, Jonathan Zinman, and Angela L. Duckworth. "Megastudies Improve the Impact of Applied Behavioural Science." Nature 600, no. 7889 (December 16, 2021): 478–483. View Details
- Milkman, Katherine L., Mitesh S. Patel, Linnea Gandhi, Heather N. Graci, Dena M. Gromet, Hung Ho, Joseph S. Kay, Timothy W. Lee, Modupe Akinola, John Beshears, Jonathan E. Bogard, Alison Buttenheim, Christopher F. Chabris, Gretchen B. Chapman, James J. Choi, Hengchen Dai, Craig R. Fox, Amir Goren, Matthew D. Hilchey, Jillian Hmurovic, Leslie K. John, Dean Karlan, Melanie Kim, David Laibson, Cait Lamberton, Brigitte C. Madrian, Michelle N. Meyer, Maria Modanu, Jimin Nam, Todd Rogers, Renante Rondina, Silvia Saccardo, Maheen Shermohammed, Dilip Soman, Jehan Sparks, Caleb Warren, Megan Weber, Ron Berman, Chalanda N. Evans, Christopher K. Snider, Eli Tsukayama, Christophe Van den Bulte, Kevin G. Volpp, and Angela L. Duckworth. "A Megastudy of Text-Based Nudges Encouraging Patients to Get Vaccinated at an Upcoming Doctor's Appointment." e2101165118. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, no. 20 (May 18, 2021). View Details
- Beshears, John, and Harry Kosowsky. "Nudging: Progress to Date and Future Directions." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 161, Supplement (November 2020): 3–19. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, Christopher Harris, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Jung Sakong. "Which Early Withdrawal Penalty Attracts the Most Deposits to a Commitment Savings Account?" Art. 104144. Journal of Public Economics 183 (March 2020). View Details
- Kong, Edward, John Beshears, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, Kevin Volpp, George Loewenstein, Jonathan Kolstad, and James J. Choi. "Do Physician Incentives Increase Patient Medication Adherence?" Health Services Research 55, no. 4 (August 2020): 503–511. View Details
- Benartzi, Shlomo, John Beshears, Katherine L. Milkman, Cass R. Sunstein, Richard H. Thaler, Maya Shankar, Will Tucker-Ray, William J. Congdon, and Steven Galing. "Should Governments Invest More in Nudging?" Psychological Science 28, no. 8 (August 2017): 1041–1055. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Does Front-Loading Taxation Increase Savings? Evidence from Roth 401(k) Introductions." Journal of Public Economics 151 (July 2017): 84–95. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Does Aggregated Returns Disclosure Increase Portfolio Risk Taking?" Review of Financial Studies 30, no. 6 (June 2017): 1971–2005. View Details
- Alsan, Marcella, John Beshears, Wendy S. Armstrong, James J. Choi, Brigitte C. Madrian, Minh Ly T. Nguyen, Carlos Del Rio, David Laibson, and Vincent C. Marconi. "A Commitment Contract to Achieve Virologic Suppression in Poorly Adherent Patients with HIV/AIDS." AIDS 31, no. 12 (July 31, 2017): 1765–1769. View Details
- Beshears, John, Katherine L. Milkman, and Joshua Schwartzstein. "Beyond Beta-Delta: The Emerging Economics of Personal Plans." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 106, no. 5 (May 2016): 430–434. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Gwendolyn I. Reynolds. "Vaccination Rates Are Associated with Functional Proximity but Not Base Proximity of Vaccination Clinics." Medical Care 54, no. 6 (June 2016): 578–583. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Katherine L. Milkman. "The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions." Journal of Finance 70, no. 3 (June 2015): 1161–1201. View Details
- Beshears, John, and F. Gino. "Leaders as Decision Architects: Structure Your Organization's Work to Encourage Wise Choices." Harvard Business Review 93, no. 5 (May 2015): 52–62. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, Joshua Hurwitz, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Liquidity in Retirement Savings Systems: An International Comparison." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 105, no. 5 (May 2015): 420–425. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Stephen P. Zeldes. "What Makes Annuitization More Appealing?" Special Issue on NBER Pensions. Journal of Public Economics 116 (August 2014): 2–16. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Simplification and Saving." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 95 (November 2013): 130–145. View Details
- Beshears, John. "The Performance of Corporate Alliances: Evidence from Oil and Gas Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico." Journal of Financial Economics 110, no. 2 (November 2013): 324–346. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, Andreas Fuster, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "What Goes Up Must Come Down? Experimental Evidence on Intuitive Forecasting." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 103, no. 3 (May 2013): 570–574. View Details
- Milkman, Katherine L., John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Planning Prompts as a Means of Increasing Preventive Screening Rates." Preventive Medicine 56, no. 1 (January 2013): 92–93. View Details
- Loewenstein, George, Joelle Y. Friedman, Barbara McGill, Sarah Ahmad, Suzanne Linck, Stacey Sinkula, John Beshears, James J. Choi, Jonathan Kolstad, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, John A. List, and Kevin G. Volpp. "Consumers' Misunderstanding of Health Insurance." Journal of Health Economics 32, no. 5 (September 2013): 850–862. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Gwendolyn Reynolds. "Testimonials Do Not Convert Patients from Brand to Generic Medication." American Journal of Managed Care 19, no. 9 (September 2013): e314–e316. View Details
- Dai, Hengchen, Katherine L. Milkman, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Planning Prompts as a Means of Increasing Rates of Immunization and Preventive Screening." Special Issue on Vaccination, Prevention, and Older Adults. Public Policy & Aging Report 22, no. 4 (2012): 16–19. View Details
- Milkman, Katherine L., John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Using Implementation Intentions Prompts to Enhance Influenza Vaccination Rates." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, no. 26 (June 28, 2011): 10415–10420. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Behavioral Economics Perspectives on Public Sector Pension Plans." Journal of Pension Economics & Finance 10, no. 2 (April 2011): 315–336. View Details
- Beshears, John, and Katherine L. Milkman. "Do Sell-Side Stock Analysts Exhibit Escalation of Commitment?" Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 77, no. 3 (March 2011): 304–317. View Details
- Beshears, John, and Katherine L. Milkman. "Mental Accounting and Small Windfalls: Evidence from an Online Grocer." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 71, no. 2 (August 2009): 384–394. View Details
- Martin, Jolie M., John Beshears, Katherine L. Milkman, Max H. Bazerman, and Lisa Sutherland. "Modeling Expert Opinions on Food Healthfulness: A Nutrition Metric." Journal of the American Dietetic Association 109, no. 6 (June 2009): 1088–1091. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "How Are Preferences Revealed?" Journal of Public Economics 92, nos. 8-9 (June 2008): 1787–1794. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Retirement Saving: Helping Employees Help Themselves." Milken Institute Review 8, no. 3 (Third Quarter 2006): 30–39. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Early Decisions: A Regulatory Framework." Swedish Economic Policy Review 12, no. 2 (2005): 41–60. View Details
- Book Chapters
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- Berk, Sarah Holmes, John Beshears, Jay Garg, James J. Choi, and David Laibson. "Employer-Based Short-Term Savings Accounts." In The Elgar Companion to Consumer Behaviour and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, edited by Lucia A. Reisch and Cass R. Sunstein. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, J. Mark Iwry, David C. John, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Building Emergency Savings Through Employer-Sponsored Rainy-Day Savings Accounts." In Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 34, edited by Robert A. Moffitt, 43–90. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Behavioral Household Finance." In Handbook of Behavioral Economics: Foundations and Applications 1, edited by B. Douglas Bernheim, Stefano DellaVigna, and David Laibson, 177–276. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2018. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Who Uses the Roth 401(k), and How Do They Use It?" Chap. 12 in Discoveries in the Economics of Aging, edited by David A. Wise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "The Availability and Utilization of 401(k) Loans." In Investigations in the Economics of Aging, edited by David A. Wise, 145–172. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "How Does Simplified Disclosure Affect Individuals' Mutual Fund Choices?" In Explorations in the Economics of Aging, edited by David A. Wise, 75–96. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Brian Weller. "Public Policy and Saving for Retirement: The 'Autosave' Features of the Pension Protection Act of 2006." In Better Living through Economics, edited by John J. Siegfried, 274–290. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "The Impact of Employer Matching on Savings Plan Participation under Automatic Enrollment." In Research Findings in the Economics of Aging, edited by David A. Wise, 311–327. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. View Details
- Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States." In Lessons from Pension Reform in the Americas, edited by Stephen J. Kay and Tapen Sinha, 59–87. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. View Details
- Working Papers
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- Choi, James J., David Laibson, Jordan Cammarota, Richard Lombardo, and John Beshears. "Smaller than We Thought? The Effect of Automatic Savings Policies." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 32828, August 2024. View Details
- Berk, Sarah Holmes, James J. Choi, Jay Garg, John Beshears, and David Laibson. "Automating Short-Term Payroll Savings: Evidence from Two Large U.K. Experiments." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 32581, June 2024. View Details
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Beshears, John. "Behavioral Economics and Choice Architecture." Harvard Business School Module Note 922-029, February 2022. View Details
- Beshears, John, and Ashley Whillans. "A Behavioral Science Perspective on Motivation and Incentives." Harvard Business School Module Note 922-033, March 2022. View Details
- Whillans, Ashley, and John Beshears. "Social Salary Setting at Spiber." Harvard Business School Case 920-050, March 2020. (Revised June 2020.) View Details
- Whillans, Ashley, and John Beshears. "Social Salary Setting at Spiber." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 921-014, November 2020. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Exley, Christine, John Beshears, Manuela Collis, and Davis Heniford. "Negotiating for Equal Pay: The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (A)." Harvard Business School Case 920-029, December 2019. (Revised December 2021.) View Details
- Exley, Christine, John Beshears, Manuela Collis, and Davis Heniford. "Negotiating for Equal Pay: The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 920-030, December 2019. (Revised December 2021.) View Details
- Beshears, John, and Christine Exley. "Negotiating for Equal Pay: The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 922-032, January 2022. View Details
- Beshears, John, Alpana Thapar, and Boris Tsimerinov. "Magrabi: Fulfilling the Vision for the Future." Harvard Business School Case 920-009, August 2019. (Revised August 2020.) View Details
- Beshears, John. "Magrabi: Fulfilling the Vision for the Future." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 922-034, February 2022. View Details
- Beshears, John. "Stoy Foods: Role Information for Danijela Stoyanovic." Harvard Business School Exercise 918-044, April 2018. View Details
- Beshears, John. "Stoy Foods: Role Information for Katrina Stoyanovic." Harvard Business School Exercise 918-045, April 2018. View Details
- Beshears, John. "Stoy Foods: Role Information for Milan Stoyanovic." Harvard Business School Exercise 918-046, April 2018. View Details
- Beshears, John. "Stoy Foods: Role Information for Petja Stoyanovic." Harvard Business School Exercise 918-047, April 2018. View Details
- Beshears, John. "Stoy Foods." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 922-035, February 2022. View Details
- Brooks, Alison Wood, Francesca Gino, Julia J. Lee, Bradley R. Staats, Andrew Wasynczuk, and John Beshears. "Advika Consulting Services: Challenges and Opportunities in Managing Human Capital." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 918-038, February 2018. View Details
- Beshears, John, Joshua Schwartzstein, Tiffany Y. Chang, and Brian J. Hall. "GiveDirectly." Harvard Business School Case 918-036, March 2018. View Details
- Beshears, John, and Joshua Schwartzstein. "GiveDirectly." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 918-040, March 2018. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Beshears, John, Michael Luca, Alister Martin, and Simin Gharib Lee. "Nudging Hand Hygiene Compliance at the Brigham and Women's Hospital." Harvard Business School Case 918-035, March 2018. View Details
- Exley, Christine L., John Beshears, and Alison Wood Brooks. "La Ceiba: Navigating Microfinance and Relationships in Honduras (A)." Harvard Business School Case 918-014, December 2017. View Details
- Exley, Christine L., John Beshears, and Alison Wood Brooks. "La Ceiba: Navigating Microfinance and Relationships in Honduras (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 918-015, December 2017. View Details
- Exley, Christine L., John Beshears, and Alison Wood Brooks. "La Ceiba: Navigating Microfinance and Relationships in Honduras (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 918-016, December 2017. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Beshears, John, Iris Bohnet, and Jenny Sanford. "Increasing Gender Diversity in the Boardroom: The United Kingdom in 2011 (A)." Harvard Business School Case 918-006, October 2017. (Revised July 2019.) View Details
- Beshears, John, Iris Bohnet, and Jenny Sanford. "Increasing Gender Diversity in the Boardroom: The United Kingdom in 2011 (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 918-007, October 2017. (Revised July 2019.) View Details
- Beshears, John, Iris Bohnet, and Siri Chilazi. "Increasing Gender Diversity in the Boardroom: The United Kingdom in 2011 (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 920-006, July 2019. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Beshears, John. "Evive Health and Workplace Influenza Vaccinations." Harvard Business School Case 916-044, March 2016. View Details
- Beshears, John. "Evive Health and Workplace Influenza Vaccinations." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 916-049, March 2016. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Beshears, John, Francesca Gino, Jonathan Lee, and Sean (Yixiang) Wang. "T-Mobile in 2013: The Un-Carrier." Harvard Business School Case 916-043, February 2016. (Revised September 2020.) View Details
- Beshears, John, and Francesca Gino. "T-Mobile in 2013: The Un-Carrier." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 916-048, March 2016. (Revised November 2021.) View Details
- Beshears, John, Patrick Rooney, and Jenny Sanford. "Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A)." Harvard Business School Case 916-026, February 2016. View Details
- Beshears, John, Patrick Rooney, and Jenny Sanford. "Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (B)." Harvard Business School Case 916-040, February 2016. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Beshears, John. "Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 916-047, March 2016. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Research Summary
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In his research, Professor Beshears shows how managers can influence the behavior of customers and employees by changing the decision-making environment to call attention to a decision, to use psychological framing to shape assessments of options, or to help individuals follow through on their intended behaviors. One example of this research involved working with a company to encourage employees to make an active choice between home delivery of prescription drugs and in-person pickup of prescription drugs at the pharmacy. By calling attention to the choice between the two options, this approach increased the adoption rate of home delivery from 6% to 42%, reducing financial costs for both the employees and the company that employed them.
- Additional Information
- Areas of Interest
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