The Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) Summer School Outreach Programme hosted a lecture on behavioral insights, in collaboration with the School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) at the University of Pretoria. Dr Avni Shah from the University of Toronto presented the guest lecture on 13 February. The topic was ‘Behavioral insights: Inclusion by design’. The lecture was attended by postgraduate students and academics from UP, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg.
According to Dr Shah, behavioral economics and behavioral science used to be controversial when traditional economists preferred to study the rationality of economic agents. “Today however, it is largely accepted that people are fundamentally irrational and that irrationality should be taken into account. That could be why the 2017 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to a behavioral economist, Richard Thaler. Recently, behavioral science and behavioral insights has been used to meaningfully impact the goal of increasing diversity and inclusivity.”
Such insights are very important for public sector studies.
GTAC Summer School Outreach Programme in collaboration with the SPMA , from left to right:
Prof Rehana Valley (UP), Prof Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu (UP), Ms Musawenkosi Tshuma
(High Commission of Canada in South Africa), Ms Subethri Naidoo (GTAC) and Dr Avni Shah (University of Toronto)
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