Networks and behavior: insights for policy design

2n Annual Lecture of the Hans Schadee Research Methods Center

Relatrice:

Silvia Prina, Professor of Economics, Northeastern University

Introduce:

Raffaele Grotti, Coordinatore del Centro Hans Schadee Research Methods

Discute:

Luca Piccoli, Università di Trento

Abstract

Why do communities facing identical risks respond so differently? Why do policies sometimes fail to move behavior — while others trigger changes nobody intended? And why are the people most likely to influence their neighbors rarely visible in a standard policy evaluation? The answer might lie in a blind spot shared by most policy models: the network. Most policy is designed around individuals weighing their own risks, costs, and incentives in isolation. But the data say otherwise. People are embedded in networks, and those networks shape what they perceive as risky, what they believe is normal, and how they respond to policy. This keynote draws on empirical research across contexts as different as a pandemic, a savings program, and a workplace cafeteria to examine what changes when we take networks seriously. The implications cut across disciplines and policy domains.