Viewed from the perspective of public policy, behavioural public policy (BPP) faces challenges in four main areas: Systems, Impatience, Nudging, and Scaling. To address these challenges, several suggestions are proposed. First, understanding how BPP interventions unfold in complex systems requires better diagnostics and the development of predictive and generative models of human behaviour. Second, the rapid pace of policy processes necessitates a shift towards generating timely and fit-for-purpose evidence. Third, maximising the opportunities presented by BPP, beyond merely ‘nudging’, demands the early and proactive application of behavioural science in the policy cycle. Fourth, achieving widespread impact in BPP initiatives means considering scale-up from the start. Lastly, the consistent and comprehensive integration of behavioural science into standard policymaking practices would support sustainable progress in addressing these challenges.

This Article argues that to protect public debate, which is vital for democratic societies, it is crucial for courts in EU Member States to apply the freedom of expression standards established by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) when adjudicating cases, particularly in the context of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). The Article examines whether the obligation to protect the freedom of expression extends to the non-enforcement of judgments that could have a chilling effect on public debate, and explores the legal implications within the framework of the EU’s mutual recognition regime. By analyzing the Real Madrid v. Le Monde case, the Article highlights the importance of safeguarding free speech and public debate, praising the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for providing clear guidance on when non-enforcement is necessary to prevent the suppression of the public debate. The Article concludes by emphasizing the evolving role of the ECJ in balancing mutual trust among Member States with the protection of fundamental rights, especially in light of the EU’s ongoing integration and its potential accession to the ECtHR.

Because nuclear power development entails massive initial investments in power plants, along with institutional innovations in regulation, law, and basic physical infrastructure, there are strong grounds to support the pervasiveness of the central state in the industry. Furthermore, considering the scale economies in reactor installation, standardization in design, and enhanced learning by doing, little scope remains for the consideration of decentralized business interests. This article argues that competition, in the sense of rivalry between firms, can nonetheless be a driving force behind the nuclear industry. To illustrate the point, we draw a comparative, eventful history of two Iberian nations, Portugal and Spain: Portugal has failed several attempts to introduce nuclear power, while Spain has become one of the largest nuclear power nations in Europe. A fine-grained analysis of the circumstances surrounding the nuclear history of both countries is presented, highlighting the key variables of business history and the role of the central state and political actors in economic policy.

Small and medium-sized enterprises constitute the largest share of companies in most economies. As major resource users and significant contributors to environmental pollution, they are relevant targets for public policy programs aimed at increasing sustainability. We study how ‘sludge’ – small frictions in the choice architecture – can impact the uptake and effectiveness of such public policy programs targeted at SMEs. To this end, we conducted a field experiment within an existing policy program designed to support SMEs in implementing cost-effective environmental management practices. We manipulated the process of receiving free green items intended to support the implementation of those environmentally friendly practices within firms. We find that sludge, in the form of minor additional effort required to order the items, substantially undermined the program’s effectiveness. These results have important implications for policymakers: even minor sludge in the choice architecture can seriously impair the effectiveness of public policy programs targeted at companies.

Social innovation has broadly been defined as citizen-led initiatives aimed at improving community welfare through collaborative relationships. However, numerous studies demonstrate that social innovation might actually create new inequalities. In this paper, we address the following questions: how might socially innovative projects influence public policy? How can we understand a policy shift leading to institutions not only giving support to social innovation projects but even promoting their own social innovation schemes? Is institution-led social innovation different from citizen-led efforts? If so, how? We provide evidence of local public policy change occurring in 0–3 education and care in Barcelona between 2015 and 2021. We explain how this happened, examining who redefined the issue and how, how the policy domain was reorganized, and how the policy subsystem was restructured. Our conclusions show how and why citizens and institutions define social innovation differently and how innovative 0–3 policy in Barcelona was adopted.

Le fardeau administratif renvoie au phénomène selon lequel la mise en œuvre des politiques publiques et, plus généralement, les interactions avec l’État, sont coûteuses et difficiles. Chaque personne est en effet confrontée à des coûts d'apprentissage lorsqu'elle acquiert de l'information sur les programmes et services publics, à des coûts de conformité lorsqu'elle tente de satisfaire à leurs règles, et à des coûts psychologiques (stress, etc.) lorsqu'elle interagit avec ceux-ci. Cette littérature, presque exclusivement anglophone, s'est développée à un rythme effréné. Cette synthèse critique fait le bilan de ces récents développements et propose une discussion articulée autour de trois thèmes : 1) Que sont les fardeaux administratifs et quels enjeux soulèvent-ils? ; 2) Quelles sont les sources des fardeaux? ; et 3) Quelles en sont les conséquences distributives et politiques? Des pistes de recherche future sont proposées pour chacun de ces thèmes.

The change in brand from British Railways to British Rail (BR) marked an important moment in the history of Britain’s railway. Running alongside BR’s modernization was a wider process of “professionalization” within the field of marketing. This paper explores how the wider professionalization of marketing impacted BR’s own marketing practices, showing that after 1965 BR opened its doors to new methods, means, and perhaps most importantly, specialists from outside the railway industry. Such marketing efforts helped to frame the railway in terms of individual travelers’ specific economic needs: by 1968 it had effectively segmented its passengers into demographic audiences, and by 1975, BR had a much better understanding of its markets. These individual economies were often highly gendered and saw only mixed success, but ultimately demonstrated an application of research, advertising, and promotion.

Emerging societal expectations from biomedical research and intensifying international scientific competition are becoming existential matters. Based on a review of pertinent evidence, this article analyzes challenges and formulates public policy recommendations for improving productivity and impact of life sciences. Critical risks include widespread quality defects of research, particularly non-reproducible results, and narrow access to scientifically sound information giving advantage to health misinformation. In funding life sciences, the simultaneous shift to nondemocratic societies is an added challenge. Simply spending more on research will not be enough in the global competition. Considering the pacesetter role of the federal government, five national policy recommendations are put forward: (i) funding projects with comprehensive expectations of reproducibility; (ii) public–private partnerships for contemporaneous quality support in laboratories; (iii) making research institutions accountable for quality control; (iv) supporting new quality filtering standards for scientific journals and repositories, and (v) establishing a new network of centers for scientific health communications.

Overweight and obesity now impact one-third of the entire adult population globally, and play a role in the development of 3 of the 4 more common causes of death. Accountability systems for obesity prevention centring on food environment policies and health system strengthening have been vital for raising awareness to the lack of progress in prevention. However, health systems have struggled to prevent and treat obesity – in part because critical food systems reforms largely lay outside the mandate of health sectors and with government agencies for agriculture, industry, infrastructure, trade and investment, and finance. In this commentary we highlight aspects of food systems that are driving poor diets and obesity, and demonstrate a powerful but largely overlooked opportunity for accountability mechanisms for obesity that better address food systems as a main driver. We draw on lessons generated in the Pacific Islands Region where they have demonstrated remarkable commitment to obesity prevention through food system reforms, and the adoption of accountability systems that bring leaders to account on these. We make recommendations for accountability mechanisms that facilitate greater cooperation of food systems sectors on obesity and NCD prevention.

Throughout its two and a half centuries in existence, US mental health policy has repeatedly failed people living with schizophrenia. The failures are cyclical—the inhumane conditions uncovered in the first 75 years of existence were addressed with the construction of state asylums to deliver moral treatment. One hundred years later, the asylums were themselves revealed to be inhumane. Deinstitutionalization, the response to the failure of asylums starting in the 1960s, now drives outcomes such as homelessness, incarceration, and early death for people living with psychotic illnesses. In all cases, well-intentioned policy reform has failed at the level of implementation, largely due to a lack of accountability. The result has been a consistent failure to adequately treat people living with schizophrenia, which is now understood to be a highly treatable condition. As the country passes into a quarter millennium in existence, reform is once again underway. Unlike other points in history, there is good news. Other countries, such as Italy, have successfully leveraged reform to achieve greatly improved outcomes. Understanding US history and the successful implementation of policy change in other countries is imperative and teaches us that accountability in implementation is necessary to break the cycle of policy failure.

For the very first time, in the Spring of 2023, the European Commission (EC) carried out a survey across all member states to assess their level of financial literacy. This survey complements other national surveys and fills an important gap because it provides a consistent metric that allows comparisons among the European Union (EU) countries. The motivation behind the EC’s survey stems from the need to advance the state of financial literacy to safeguard financial stability and promote important projects, such as the creation of a Capital Markets Union. In this paper, we analyze these new data and confirm findings in the literature about the importance of being financially knowledgeable to achieve good financial outcomes. Unfortunately, the survey also confirms that barely one in two individuals, on average in the EU, is financially literate.

Through their study, George Ikkos & Nick Bouras reveal that the responsibilities of the psychiatric community are increasingly complex, especially amid the onslaught of globalisation and the confines of neoliberalism. ‘Metacommunity’ in this context refers not only to the history of psychiatrists but their role in strengthening and influencing mental health policies. A number of challenges continue to emerge in the public sphere, highlighting the need for psychiatry to adapt to society's evolving demands for inclusivity, equity and ethical governance. These challenges emphasise the importance of shaping the future of psychiatry that is responsive to the complexities of mental health care and aligned with democratic principles that prioritise transparency and social accountability. We have added several aspects that could complement psychiatrists' future theory and practice, including a more collaborative and evidence-based approach to dealing with increasingly complex mental health issues.

Although transboundary crises have gained relevance in an increasingly interdependent world, our understanding of the relational dynamics governing these phenomena remains limited. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by identifying common characteristics across interorganizational transboundary crisis networks and drivers of tie formation in successful structures. For this purpose, it applies descriptive Social Network Analysis and Exponential Random Graph Models to an original dataset of three networks. Results show that these structures combine elements of issue networks and policy communities. Common features include moderately high centralization, reciprocated ties, core-periphery structures, and the popularity of international organizations. Additionally, successful networks display smooth communication between NGOs and international organizations, whereas unsuccessful networks have fewer heterophilous interactions. Transitivity seems to play a role in network success too. These findings suggest that crisis networks are robust structures that reconcile bridging and bonding dynamics, thereby highlighting how evidence from relational studies could guide transboundary crisis management.

The ability and knowledge to manage financial tasks may be compromised in old age, especially when the need to navigate the care and social benefit systems increases. Managing financial tasks may consist of a variety of actions of both the older people themselves and their representatives, often family members. This study explored how financial tasks related to the care and everyday life of older people who need long-term care are managed by using the ideas of modalities of agency and distributed agency. We analysed interviews of 19 older persons and their family members with a qualitative case analysis. All the older persons who participated in the study distributed the agency in financial tasks among their family members, but to different levels and for different reasons. We identified three types of distributed agency – inevitable, assimilated and minimal distributed agency – in which the older persons’ knowledge about financial tasks and their ability to manage financial tasks differed. Within these types, the cases differed in terms of the know-how of the family members and the reasons why the older people’s knowledge about financial tasks or their ability to manage their financial tasks were diminished. We conclude that older persons with long-term care needs require help in regard to financial tasks, and the older people’s and their family members’ ability to manage financial tasks could be enhanced by making the benefit systems and online banking more user-friendly and by improving the help from care staff.

This article contributes an account of a key moment in the development of venture capital. I argue the US Small Business Administration’s Task Force on Venture and Equity Capital for Small Business, established in 1976 and headed by William J. Casey, had an outsized impact on the development of modern venture capital and its close associations with the high technology sector. The Task Force’s 1977 report was influential in establishing both the figure of the venture capitalist and the business model of institutionally supported, limited partnership venture capital in the minds of policymakers, businesspeople, and the general public. This article traces the influence of one part of the Report: a prominently featured schematic model, entitled “Life Cycle of a New Enterprise: Model of a Growing and Successful Company, 1975-1976 Financial Market Conditions.” I trace the influence of the LCM as it spread through the developing high technology sector, as shown by its appearances in business publications, governmental reports, and congressional testimonies offered by industry leaders. The LCM was genericized away from its original authors and intentions, becoming part of the economic imaginary of the technology and innovation sector.

This Special Issue stems from some of the insights at the “Future of Food Law” Conference held at Wageningen University and Research (WUR) in 2023, prompting an examination of the Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy’s achievements and shortcomings. With the von der Leyen Commission’s term concluding, the paper critically assesses key aspects of the F2F Strategy, laying the foundation for an in-depth discussion presented in six contributions. The exploration extends from US and EU perspectives to national considerations, moving even further and beyond the boundaries of the Strategy. It encompasses emerging views on food safety, fostering fair and sustainable agri-food production models, encouraging healthier and democratic food choices, and reevaluating decision-making distribution from EU to Member States in sustainability regulatory actions. This issue aims to probe how agri-food regulatory frameworks should adapt to current challenges, acknowledging new economic, social, and environmental expectations. As a frame to the six contributions, this paper addresses the substantial delay in implementing crucial food law interventions, with a focus on the legislative Framework for Sustainable Food Systems (SFSF). The paper concludes by outlining potential scenarios for the future of EU food law, emphasising the necessity for establishing a guiding principle of sustainability for food systems.

Many believe that weaker legal constraints make unilateral action easier to reverse than legislation. Yet in some cases, unilateralism survives a successor's determined opposition. I argue that legislative persistence and unilateral transience may arise not only from differences in legal status but also from a selection effect: unilateralism and subsequent rescission can both stem from weak underlying policy-demanding groups. But if unilateralism itself alters the landscape of group power through policy feedback effects, it can survive a purportedly opposed new president. An example is the Trump Administration's failure to depart from the Obama Justice Department's lax stance on cannabis. Weak constituents’ policy demands may thus need to rely on a sympathetic president's unilateral action to begin a feedback loop, subsequently softening opposition. This paper therefore identifies unilateral action as a key tool for shifting policy in an enduring way, explaining its success or failure in terms of interest group power.