On Monday 4 November 2024, we held our second annual Greengross Lecture in memory of our founder Baroness Sally Greengross in the Lord Speaker’s magnificent River Room kindly hosted by Baroness Dianne Hayter. We’re delighted to share a summary of the lecture delivered by Professor David Halpern below.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. It’s a pleasure to see people from across the political spectrum engaging with these issues. I hope to be a little provocative tonight, but in a way that leads to agreement on both sides of the House about where we could take more radical action.

Tonight’s topic is health, wealth, and happiness. For those familiar with the 2008 book Nudge, it may be sitting on your shelf with the subtitle “Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness.” Although the book didn’t cover all these themes in great depth, I thought we might revisit them as a framework for discussion. I apologise for not including housing tonight, but perhaps that’s a topic for another time.

To provide a quick overview, I’ll be touching on the behavioural insights we’ve gathered since 2010 when we founded the Behavioural Insights Team, or “Nudge Unit,” within the Cabinet Office. Before that, I worked in Tony Blair’s strategy unit, but since then, our work has evolved to focus on applying behavioural science to policy and practice, growing from a small team in the UK Cabinet Office into a global leader in behavioural insights with a presence on nearly every continent.

As some may know, my background involves the study of psychology, and much of our work is grounded in principles from psychologists like Daniel Kahneman. One of the fundamental concepts is that people often make decisions using fast, automatic, or “system 1” thinking, where decisions are influenced more by environment than by careful consideration. In contrast, reflective “system 2” thinking requires greater effort and concentration, such as when learning a new skill. Kahneman noted that environmental effects on behaviour are often stronger than we realise. This is especially relevant when it comes to public policy, where changing environments can have profound effects on behaviour, particularly in areas like health.

Health

Let’s begin with health. Much of our public health work involves finding ways to help people lead healthier lives without requiring constant willpower or individual effort. If you’ve ever tried to diet, you’ll know it’s difficult to make healthy choices in a world full of temptations and easy options for unhealthy food. This is where reformulation comes in.

One of our successes was the sugar levy on soft drinks, which led to a reduction of over 50% in sugar in British drinks. Interestingly, sales actually increased, showing that the industry adapted, and public health benefited without economic harm. Ideally, we want to make it easy for people to live healthily without needing a PhD in nutrition to read food labels. Reformulation, where we encourage companies to reduce sugar and salt in food, is far more effective than expecting consumers to scrutinise every label.

Similarly, in 2011, we supported making electronic cigarettes more accessible as a way to reduce smoking. Despite the controversy, our best estimates suggest that e-cigarettes have saved over a million life years in the UK by providing a safer alternative to smoking. The effectiveness of e-cigarettes in helping people quit is roughly 60% greater than nicotine replacement therapy. However, we still don’t have medically approved e-cigarettes that doctors can prescribe, despite strong evidence of their efficacy. Instead, we have a situation where teenagers can buy them easily, but doctors can’t prescribe them – a clear policy gap.

Alcohol is another area where reformulation could make a difference. Rather than seeing large bottles of high-alcohol-content drinks, we could encourage smaller serving sizes and lower alcohol content options, making it easier for people to consume alcohol responsibly.

Finally, consider stress, purpose, and relationships, which have powerful effects on health but rarely receive policy attention. We know that people who regularly see friends or feel a sense of purpose live longer and healthier lives. If there were a drug with these benefits, it would be widely prescribed.

Wealth

Moving on to wealth, auto-enrolment in pensions is one of the poster-child successes of behavioural science. Previously, young people in the UK were criticised for not saving, but the introduction of auto-enrolment flipped the default: instead of opting in to save, you had to opt out. Today, over 90% of eligible workers are saving into a pension. Interestingly, when young people are asked, the vast majority support the idea of being auto-enrolled.

But there’s more we could do. For instance, we could implement auto-escalation, where people’s contributions increase automatically when they receive a pay rise, ensuring that savings keep pace with income. There’s also a strong case for “rainy day” savings accounts, where people build a small emergency fund before contributing to a long-term pension. More than 10 million people in the UK don’t have £100 saved for emergencies, and many would benefit from having £1,000 in reserve.

Happiness and Wellbeing

Turning to happiness and wellbeing, we’ve learned a lot over the years. Many of you may know about the “U-shaped curve” in happiness, where wellbeing is lowest around middle age, then rises as people get older. For many, happiness peaks shortly after retirement, provided they are in good health. Health issues, job insecurity, and unemployment are all detrimental to wellbeing, whereas social support – simply having someone to turn to in times of trouble – is an incredibly powerful predictor of happiness.

People often misjudge the things that make them happy. Studies show that spending money on experiences, like travel or outdoor activities, generally makes people happier than buying material goods. Yet people frequently mispredict this, thinking a new gadget will bring lasting happiness when, in reality, it quickly loses its appeal.

Interestingly, the experience of the pandemic reminded us of the importance of social connections. For a brief period, we were more engaged with one another and willing to help out, demonstrating that social ties are an essential component of wellbeing.

Behavioural Insights and Social Choice

So, how do we apply behavioural insights to enable better choices? One issue I’ve become particularly interested in is the concept of “shrouding” in the economy, where essential information is hidden or difficult to understand. Take social media, for example. Some platforms have been shown to negatively impact young people’s mental health, especially Instagram, which contributes to feelings of loneliness and inadequacy. What if platforms were required to report on these impacts transparently, like nutritional information for food? This would allow parents and young people to make better-informed choices about how they use technology.

Or consider employment. We know that having a supportive, partner-like boss improves job satisfaction and overall wellbeing significantly. But how can a jobseeker know what kind of workplace culture they are stepping into? Here, public data could play a role. Imagine a platform like TripAdvisor but for workplaces, allowing jobseekers to see real feedback on work environments and employee satisfaction.

Finally, it’s worth reflecting on the insights we’ve gathered on collective decision-making. We’ve found that, when given a voice, the public often supports more radical policies than governments are willing to implement. For example, in the case of obesity, public opinion tends to favour reformulation and greater regulation of sugar in food. Engaging the public more actively in these decisions can lend governments the confidence to take bold action.

Conclusion

In closing, I believe there is much we can do to improve quality of life, particularly as we age. From promoting wellbeing to making financial security a reality for more people, there are concrete steps we could take. But we must be willing to think creatively and act boldly, especially in using our resources – both time and wealth – in ways that benefit society.

Ronald Reagan once joked that he wouldn’t “exploit for political purposes his opponents’ youth and inexperience.” Similarly, we should be looking to older generations for the wisdom they have to offer, drawing on that perspective to inform policy choices that benefit all ages.

COVID taught us a few important lessons, one of which is the enduring value of social engagement and kindness. Let’s keep these lessons in mind as we shape policy for the future, so we can build a society where longer lives are also better lives.

You can read an edited transcript of David Halpern’s lecture via the button below.