Overview

Abstract

Uses case studies from Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua to describe behavior-oriented interventions in a development context. Interventions explored ways to elicit conservation of water, greater compliance in the payment of taxes, and parental behaviors that enhance child development, capitalize on energy subsidy reform and utilize household survey data and a game-based subsidy reform simulation. The cases illustrate the importance of paying close attention to both the design and the implementation details of reforms. A main attraction of behavior-influenced interventions is their low cost; unlike traditional development projects, they typically do not require high up-front investment in infrastructure or information systems or in significant additional human resources, but seek to work within established systems and use existing resources. One major issue centers on the sustainability of behavioral changes as some interventions may promote a shift in behavioral patterns in the immediate term but fail to change underlying attitudes and motivations.

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