E+Hardy+2020+Cropped.jpg

Elizabeth Hardy

Senior Director, Research and Experimentation, Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada

bio:

Elizabeth is the Senior Director of Research and Experimentation at the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada. Prior to joining TBS, she founded and led the Behavioural Insights team for Impact Canada, Privy Council Office, overseeing the application of behavioural science to public policy challenges. Previously, she led the Behavioural Insights Unit in the Government of Ontario, where she was instrumental in creating and building Canada’s first behavioural science team in government. Elizabeth founded the Behavioural Insights Community of Practice in the Government of Canada and Chairs the pan-Canadian Behavioural Insights Network (BIN).

@lizdrouinhardy

3 questions:

  • What aspects of this research agenda are you most excited about?

I am most excited about the research agenda. The research question we are tackling – how BI can effectively be integrated into organizations – is an area that I have been interested in for some time. Having worked in BI at both the provincial and federal levels of government in Canada, I have seen various approaches to integration and am looking forward to expanding that knowledge and learning more about best practices for effective integration.

  • Of all the work you have done, what project / paper is your personal favourite and why?

I think, most recently, it would be our work on using behavioural insights and experimentation to increase uptake of the Canada Learning Bond (CLB). The Government of Canada provides incentives to encourage families to save for their children’s post-secondary education, including the CLB. As of 2018, only 38.3% of eligible children were signed up for the CLB, despite the financial benefit it provides to low-income families, in particular. In response, we have been collaborating to help increase the number of children accessing this incentive through several ground-breaking initiatives, including the recent bundling of an RESP referral service into Ontario’s birth registration platform.

  •  Which is the one paper or book that you wish you had written (but have not)?

    Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Eldar Shafir and Sendhil Mullainathan