A new podcast, hosted by John Balz, focuses on the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) Project managed by MDRC on behalf of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) at the federal Administration for Children and Families. Featuring OPRE’s Emily Schmitt and MDRC’s Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, the 56-minute podcast describes the results and lessons learned from testing 15 interventions in seven states with nearly 100,000 participants.

From the podcast’s description:

The application of behavioral science inside government has gained steam over the past few years with the creation of so-called “Nudge units” popping up in countries around the world. Their goals are simple: Use the lessons of behavioral science to make government work better. The Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom and the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences team in the U.S. Canada has a team now. Australia. Singapore. All the Scandinavian countries. Behavioral science teams now have a bit of buzz.

Before this buzz, there was BIAS — the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, the first major opportunity to apply a behavioral science lens to programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. The project, which began in 2010 funded through the Administration of Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, sought to apply behavioral insights to issues related to the design and implementation of social service programs and policies with a goal of learn how such tools could be used to improve the well-being of low-income children, adults, and families. The nonprofit education and social policy organization MDRC led the project.