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The Most Important Step in Applying Behavioral Economics: Understanding the Problem

Melina Palmer

While researching for my book (which will be coming out in May 2021!) I had the joy of speaking with several dozen amazing people working in applied behavioral science and behavioral economics. People from around the world doing such cool things, wonderful research projects, and so much I’m excited to share with you. You have already been hearing from a lot of them throughout the most recent interviews on the show, and they continue into 2021.

One thing that I found from interviewing so many people about their work is that even when there are different frameworks/names for the approach/unique models for applying behavioral science, most everyone agrees on one thing: where most businesses or entities go wrong is at the very beginning. 

When you are trying to solve a problem (or want to apply behavioral economics to nudge behavior or help people make better decisions), many of the projects fail or don’t get off the ground because there isn’t enough time spent identifying the real problem. 

This first crucial step is what we are going to be talking about today, to help you as you think about applying behavioral economics in your own business, and I’ll share some of the same tips I give to my own clients and students in this process (and, also, this is a sneak peek into some of what you’ll find in my book…which I am absolutely bursting to be able to give you all the details about…but I have to wait a little longer…soon!)

Alright…let’s talk about that most important step in applying behavioral economics: Identifying the problem.

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