A free economics course is empowering everyday citizens to learn more about economics from an academic perspective, then helping them apply the concepts to their understanding of their own financial situations. In five classes over a two month period, people who might be traditionally left out of the system get a chance to learn alongside others. The result is an enthusiastic group who wants to do more to help society better understand finances, too.

Ideas42 is an organization which uses behavioral economics to transform New York inhabitants to become better citizens by taking advantage of peoples' "loss adversity". The city has redesigned summons forms to remind people clearly of what they might lose if they do not respond. They are also working on other city communications to increase response rates.

Hope Credit Union has a mission: serving mostly black, marginalized communities in the South whose capital was historically displaced through slavery. In 2017, the credit union gave out $100 million in loans. ‘That total includes 61 business loans, 2,825 consumer loans, and 287 home mortgages, of which 87 percent went to first-time homebuyers.”

What if you could figure out a way to nudge bankers into making decisions with more integrity, in order to avoid future financial woes? Can a sense of safety and ethics be forced into company culture? The Inquiry takes a look inside Goldman Sachs and meets with a regulator who is deploying psychologists in banks.

In an effort to break the cycle of poverty in Memphis, a government organization is using conditional cash transfers, paying students if they earn good grades and adults if they maintain a full-time job.

Poor people are less likely to make smart financial decisions; however, new research in the U.S. says this is not about intelligence but rather about a brain being overwhelmed with issues related to poverty. To combat that barrier of stress, organizations around the world are making financial decisions easier for people experiencing poverty by making borrowing easier and automating future financial planning, like 401(k) contributions.

The research on microfinance suggests that it might neither help nor hurt poor communities, although a major financing organization argues that the researchers employed the wrong approach to measuring impact.

All across Asia there is a growing market for micro-insurance, or targeted insurance policies that provide benefits to the poorest individuals and families. As of 2012, over 170 million people in Asia were using some form of micro-insurance, but there is so much more room to grow. Successful programs in India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and other Asian countries are providing health, life, and accident insurance.

For years, policymakers have debated different approaches to helping the poor , but new data offers resounding evidence for a strategy that works: an approach known as a “Graduation” program. This method offers participants a “productive asset” to generate income with training on how to use it, as well as the resources (such as healthcare, food, loans, and coaching) to maintain the asset while building a pathway out of poverty.

Kids raised in environments full of economic, emotional and psychological turmoil are less likely to succeed in school or at the workplace, and are more likely to run afoul of the law or experience a variety of mental and physical health problems. Child First works to improve family relationships in order to help kids have a better and more successful future.

In the Middle East, refugee camps are expensive to run-- particularly because shipping food aid is expensive, and the refugees feel victimized in an environment where they have no agency or purchasing power. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has moved refugees in Jordan out of camps and has given cash instead of in-kind aid, and new possibilities emerge with mobile money by the aid of new technology. The results have shown that refugees feel more empowered and the costs associated with their aid are reduced.

We rarely think of Female Genital Mutilation, which is the total or partial removal of the external female genitalia, as an economic practice. It’s often thought of in cultural terms. However, that’s exactly what Seleiman Bishagazi did. He realized the practice was popular in his community because poor families made a profit from it. So, he “decided to attack the issue with economics and education.”

Researchers from Yale and MIT conducted a poverty study across various countries and found that aid can relieve poverty if it is comprehensive and gives people a productive asset.

The city of Durham implemented a series of behavioral and economic nudges to encourage drivers to use alternative modes of transportation to get downtown besides cars. For instance, drivers could opt in to receive emails about bike and bus routes or be entered to win a cash prize if they took the bus. Together, the initiatives helped decrease single-driver trips downtown by over five percent.

To successfully address some of our most pressing social, economic, and health issues, simply making resources available is not always enough. Behavioral science is helping non-profits and other organizations to leverage natural human traits and tendencies to increase successful adoption of life-improving initiatives in fields from healthcare to development finance.

Students at Provine High School will soon be able to open up accounts with Hope Credit Union, right in their own hallway. The partnership is helping students realize that having a relationship with a financial institution can create a more stable financial future, breaking the cycle of poverty.

Building on the widespread use of mobile phones in Kenya, applications have been developed to provide people with financial services. Through these applications people can securely receive money, save money, and make payments increasing their fiscal stability and their ability to access assistance when adverse events happen. The applications also create a record of financial transactions resulting in people being able to establish credit, receive loans, and access pay-as-you-go programs.

In Brazil a conditional cash-transfer program is alleviating poverty, empowering women, and changing gender roles by giving families, especially mothers, money for sending kids to school and to regular doctor's visits.

For refugees fleeing Syria, a new career path is possible: become a food entrepreneur. A program in Turkey provides Syrians and other refugee groups with basic entrepreneurial skills, as well as access to mentors and a commercial kitchen. Food can sustain jobs while also bringing people together.

Employers are creating “recovery friendly’ workplaces by providing support for employees with substance use disorders in the same manner as they would for employees who needed support for any other disease. A job and the support of an employer bring valuable stability to someone in recovery as well as provide a sense of belonging and self-worth.