One example: during my term in the European Commission, we drew on Jean Tirole’s research and expertise when we proposed the unbundling of the local loop in 2000, thus opening up broadband services to competition. Broadband prices declined rapidly and most households gained access to broadband. This was an important step in the development of the information society. Tirole writes a lot about incentives.
Incentives affect the behaviour of firms and individuals. However, a financial incentive does not always lead to the intended results. As an example, Tirole refers to blood donation: when people started to get a financial reward from donating blood, the number of donors plummeted.