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on Nudge and Boosting |
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Issue of 2026–03–02
two papers chosen by Marco Novarese, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Felix Chopra; Ingar K. Haaland; Nicolas Roever; Christopher Roth |
| Abstract: | We test the effectiveness of different AI-delivered conversation protocols to increase people's motivation for change. In a large-scale experiment with 2, 719 social media users, we randomly assign participants to a control conversation or one of three treatment arms: two Motivational Interviewing protocols promoting self-persuasion (change focus or decisional balance) and a direct persuasion protocol providing unsolicited advice and information. All conversations are led by an AI interviewer, enabling standardized delivery of each protocol at scale. Our results show that all three interventions significantly increase motivation for change and the perceived costs of social media use, with change-focused self-persuasion yielding the largest effects. These effects persist and translate into self-reported reductions in social media use more than two weeks after the intervention. Our findings illustrate how AI-led conversations can serve as a scalable platform both for delivering behavioral interventions and for testing what makes them effective by systematically varying how conversations are conducted. |
| Keywords: | AI interviews, scaling, motivation, persuasion, social media, beliefs |
| JEL: | C90 D83 D91 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12410 |
| By: | Rachel Glennerster; Joanna Murray; Victor Pouliquen |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether the arrival of mass media triggers a decline in fertility, a central prediction of modernization theory. Using a field experiment, we vary exposure to mass media and its content in a quarter of Burkina Faso. We provide radios to 1, 600 women without previous access to mass media. Half live in status quo areas and half in areas where the local radio station was randomly selected to air a science-based family planning campaign. Contrary to modernization theory and previous literature, gaining access to status quo mass media decreases contraception use by 14 percent and reinforces traditional gender norms. In contrast, receiving a radio in campaign areas boosts contraception use by 16 percent. The campaign also led to a 9 percent reduction in births and a 0.3 standard deviation increase in reported welfare. Reduced belief in misinformation rather than shifts in attitudes and preferences drives the result. |
| JEL: | J13 J16 L82 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34829 |