This paper focuses on four practical lessons offered by research on designing institutional rules for shaping human behaviour. First, it offers guidance on the strategies people can use to promote collective action – or shared problem solving among diverse stakeholders - on policy issues that are inherently conflictual. Second, it identifies strategies for identifying incentives that promote the successful governance of public goods and resources. Third, it helps people assess the relevant features of a policymaking setting that might affect policy performance. Fourth, it highlights how different types of rules – both formal and informal – affect who has access to policy venues, how authority is allocated and used, the flow of information, , and the distribution of who benefits (or loses) when rules are followed (or ignored).
