“Nudge units” emerged in 2009 as a novel approach when the US government recruited Cass Sunstein to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to streamline regulations. Since then, countries like the UK, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, India, Indonesia, Peru, and Singapore and organizations like the World Bank, UN agencies, OECD, and EU have embraced this innovative concept.
These units use a behaviorally informed approach to address details in bureaucracies, technologies, and service delivery that are often overlooked in standard policy design. This ultimately informs creative and often low-cost solutions.
Public Health England developed a strategy to guide how changes in individual behavior can reduce problems currently impacting the English population, such as smoking, poor diet, and physical inactivity.
