Applying Behavioral Insights to Support Immigrant Integration and Social Cohesion

The research for this publication was commissioned for presentation at a March, 2018, meeting of the Integration Futures Working Group, an initiative of MPI Europe that brings together senior policymakers, experts, civil society officials, and private sector leaders to stimulate new thinking on immigrant integration policy.  Written largely for a European audience, the report looks at the applicability of “behavioral insights,” described by the authors as “an interdisciplinary, evidence-based approach that draws on findings and methods from behavioral economic, psychology, anthropology, and other fields,” to the challenge of immigrant integration. While behavioral insights have been adopted in a wide range of policy areas, such as health, tax, and education, there has been no systematic exploration of the potential benefits of such an approach for immigrant integration.  The authors focus on three areas where behavioral insights might prove helpful:  first, community cohesion, understood as fostering the “character skills” necessary for life in a diverse society and promoting social interaction between natives and newcomers; second, narrowing inequalities between immigrant groups and the broader population; and third, access to public services, citizenship, and voting. Although behavioral insights are not designed to achieve structural change, they can, according to the authors, lead to major improvements in existing programs especially if rigorously evaluated. The report concludes with a series of recommendations for policy makers interested in implementing this approach. (American Immigrant Policy Portal)

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