Behavioural Economics and Public Policy

Roundtable Proceedings

The Productivity Commission convened a roundtable on the topic Behavioural Economics and Public Policy at the Sofitel, Melbourne on 8 and 9 August 2007. The invitees included senior government officials, academics, consultants, journalists and representatives from consumer groups. Keynote presentations were given by Professor Eldar Shafir from Princeton University and Professor Bruno Frey from Zurich University.

The roundtable examined the policy implications of behavioural economics — a relatively new field that applies insights from psychology to economic issues and analysis. Participants discussed the contribution that behavioural economics can make to a broader understanding of people’s motivation and behaviour in markets and the implications for policy and regulatory approaches. Behavioural economics has particular relevance to consumer policy, and insights gained through the roundtable made a useful contribution to the Commission’s inquiry on Australia’s consumer policy framework.

As with the Commission’s previous major conferences, the proceedings are being published to enable a wider audience access to the information and insights that emerged. This volume includes papers by the speakers and the responses of the discussants. For each session, there is also a summary of the key points covered in the discussion.

The Commission is grateful to the speakers, discussants, participants and others whose contributions made the roundtable such a valuable exercise.