IDE INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE SERIES – ACHIEVING POLICY GOALS: THE CULTURAL NUDGE

IDE INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE SERIES
ACHIEVING POLICY GOALS: THE CULTURAL NUDGE
With Dr Imran Alvi (MPhil, DPhil, Oxon), Chief Executive, Oxford Intellect, UK

Date: 9th of September 2020 (Wednesday)
Time: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm (Malaysia)
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm (Jakarta)
8:00 am – 9:30 am (UK)

🏫 Venue: IDE Zoom Webinar (Link will be given upon registration)
Register here: https://daftar.ideselangor.com

🔖Program info: (Malaysia time)

3:00 pm: Zoom Meeting open
3:15 pm: Session start

▶️ Welcoming Remarks by YB Senator Tn Hj Ismail Yusop, Board of Directors, IDE
▶️ Moderator: Dr Saadiah Mohamad, Honorary Professor, UiTM
Co-Founder, Forum Ekonomi Manusiawi
▶️ Speaker: Dr Imran Alvi (MPhil, DPhil, Oxon), Chief Executive, Oxford Intellect, UK
▶️ Q&A Session

4:30 pm: End of Session

🔖PROGRAMME SYNOPSIS

This Webinar addresses two key challenges faced by policy makers: effectiveness and reach. We begin with a deep-dive into the effectiveness of policy tools and what prohibits many traditional tools from creating the desired response from the target audience. Both cost-effectiveness and causal assumptions are analysed. An area which has gained traction among policy makers is that of Behavioural Insights or, as it is often referred to, Nudging. It is rooted in the research of psychologists and combines simple policy rules with low cost interventions. A win-win for policy makers in areas as diverse as education, taxation and addressing inequality. The second problem faced by policy makers is reach. With a heterogeneous population, a single policy intervention may benefit parts of the population while harming others – changes to taxation are a good example of this.

Cultural Nudging is designed to address these two issues. It borrows from the Behavioural Insights methodology in that policy interventions are simple and low cost. It addresses the issue of heterogeneity in the population by looking for cultural norms that are common in the local populace. These cultural norms provide a window through which the nudge can be delivered.

For the Muslim world, culture is deeply intertwined with religion. Religion therefore provides a common window through which the nudge can be delivered. This webinar sets out how policy makers can make use of the Cultural Nudge to deliver effective, low cost policy interventions in a wide range of policy areas from youth unemployment to environmental issues.