Demystifying Nudge Theory, the Pathways to Taking Evidence to Scale, and Looking to Nature for Design Inspiration

A roundup of what we’re reading, watching, and listening to this week.

Source: Vox

We throw around a lot of think pieces, podcasts, studies, and news in our Slack channels, and we wanted to open up the conversation to our readers as well. Please note that anything we post here is not an endorsement, we just hope these weekly digests will give you something to chew on over the weekend.

We’d also love to hear from you! So feel free to start a discussion below, or reach out to us on Twitter or email us at airbel@rescue.org.

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+The world is poorly designed. But copying nature helps. Janine Benyus, co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, wonders why there aren’t more biologists in design and innovation? Biomimicry is a design movement inspired by nature. Vox, in partnership with 99% Invisible, talk about the history of this movement and some of the most important engineering projects to come out of it.

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+Misconceptions About Nudges. Many have expressed anxiety about nudge theory, but a short paper by Cass Sunstein lays out what nudges are and are not. He writes, “Nudges always respect, and often promote, human agency; because nudges insist on preserving freedom of choice, they do not put excessive trust in government; nudges are generally transparent rather than covert or forms of manipulation.”

+When do innovation and evidence change lives? Rachel Glennerster, executive director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), lays out different models of bringing evidence to scale in policymaking. The three takeaways for funders? 1) Do not be prescriptive, innovation is difficult to predict; 2) Evidence is good for everyone, and goes beyond the program being evaluated; 3) If you want to accelerate impact, provide the support to help governments incorporate the evidence into policies.

+Why the U.S. Needs a Federal Jobs Program, Not Payouts. An op-ed by Robert Rubin, (former U.S. Treasury Secretary during the Clinton administration Robert Rubin), argues how universal basic income falls short. Such a program would cost trillions of dollars, says Rubin, and while universal basic income provides a minimum and decent standard of living, he argues that it fails to develop the skills necessary for creating meaningful job opportunities. “People like Tiffany want to be productive members of the work force and have opportunities for advancement. The basic income is defeatist — the solution to our jobs problem is not to give up on equipping workers with the skills they need for a changing economy.”

+And finally, a Liberian refugee was elected mayor of Montana capital. He’s the first black mayor since 1874.

Thanks to Natan, Austin, and Grant for sharing.