Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) North America

Originally set up as a small group at the heart of the UK government, the Behavioral Insights Team applies insights from academic research in behavioral economics and psychology to improve public services. The organization is now global with projects in over 15 countries and offices in London, Manchester, Singapore, Sydney and New York. We work across a wide range of government policy areas around the world, ranging from health and education to policing and energy, devising new ways of making public service work better for the people they serve, and testing the impact using empirical research methods. Typically, we try to tackle small components of large issues, building up the impact over time and driving social change incrementally but quickly. The North American office is based in New York, New York. Our flagship project is a three-year program of work with Bloomberg Philanthropies, as part of the new What Works Cities initiative. The $42 million project endeavors to build on existing innovation at the city-level by helping mayors and local leaders use data and evidence to engage the public, make government more effective and improve people’s lives. BIT will help cities conduct real-time, low-cost program evaluations to continually improve city services. BIT North America is also strengthening its existing relationships in the US and Canada, including the partnership with the Behavioral Insights Group (BIG) at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, supported by a grant from the Sloan Foundation.