#036 - David Halpern - What is the Government Nudge Unit?
The Peter McCormack Show
Peter McCormack
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2024
⏱️ 108 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
David Halpern is President and Founding Director of The Behavioural Insights Team and a leading pioneer in applying behavioural science to improve public policy and everyday decision-making worldwide.
In this interview he reveals the fascinating ways behavioural science influences government policy and everyday decisions. From pensions to education and even tax collection, we explore how "nudges" are changing the way we interact with public services. We also discuss the ethics of government intervention, the efficiency of markets, and the future of policymaking in a data-driven world.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Government is dealing with big complicated problems and lots of, you know, the public and other people who've got agendas. |
| 0:05.0 | So guess what? It's, it is difficult stuff often. I mean, I myself have often been critical of government. |
| 0:11.0 | I think it's often, look, you'll gather, I'm a hyper-empirical, you know, won. I really want to know, does it, you know, work? |
| 0:17.0 | I'll just keep asking that question again and again, what's our evidence? And the truth is, governments across the world have not been very good at that. |
| 0:24.0 | They've not been very good at actually seeing if the thing that they are already doing work is working. |
| 0:29.0 | Imagine if governments really were empirical and they said, well, what is the best way of getting |
| 0:32.5 | someone back to work? Or what is the best way of reducing crime or reducing recidivism or anything you might want to think of |
| 0:39.1 | and truly applied if you like the scientific method to it you'd actually start getting answers |
| 0:46.2 | now mr obnoxious is brought to you by our least sponsor and massive legends iron the largest |
| 0:51.3 | nasdaq listed bitcoin miner using 100% renewable energy. |
| 0:55.0 | Now, they're not just powering the Bitcoin network. |
| 0:58.0 | They're also providing cutting edge computer resources for AI, all backed by renewable energy. |
| 1:04.0 | Now, my boy Danny and I have been working with their founders, Dan and Will, for quite some time now, |
| 1:09.0 | and we've always been super impressed with their values, |
| 1:12.1 | especially their commitment to local communities |
| 1:14.4 | and sustainable computing power. |
| 1:17.0 | So if you're interested in mining Bitcoin or harnessing AI compute power, |
| 1:21.5 | Irond is set in the standard. |
| 1:23.1 | And so you can find out more at iron.com, |
| 1:25.1 | which is irren.com. |
| 1:30.0 | That is iron.com. is iran.com welcome. |
| 1:36.4 | Nice to be here. Thanks for thanks for coming. I was to recognize your um one of the things why I want to step away actually be it. I just not formal content but um because you get constrained |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Peter McCormack, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Peter McCormack and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

