About

Wändi Bruine de Bruin is a professor associated with USC Price, with a focus on public policy, health policy and management, and data analytics. Her work involves research on governance, health financing, and social innovation, contributing to the understanding of policy analysis and decision-making processes. She is involved in various research centers and initiatives, including the Center for Health Financing, Policy and Management, and the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Her background includes extensive engagement in public policy education and research, with a particular emphasis on social justice, risk analysis, and sustainable policy planning. She contributes to the development of academic programs and collaborates across multiple disciplines to advance knowledge in public policy and urban planning. Her key contributions include fostering research that informs policy decisions and supporting initiatives that address societal challenges through innovative governance and health policy solutions.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Demographic economics
• World Wide Web
• Gerontology
• Environmental health
• Clinical psychology
• Biology
• Ecology
• Virology
• Pathology
• Cognitive science
• Data science
• Demography
• Psychiatry
• Social psychology
• Law
• Economics
• Business

Selected publications

• Barriers and enablers to reduced meat intake and perceptions of sustainable diets, among Los Angeles County adults with low incomes: a qualitative interview study

  Frontiers in Public Health · 2026-03-26

  articleOpen access

  Introduction: Because of the environmental impacts of meat production, sustainable eating emphasizes eating less meat, and especially less red and processed meat. Here, barriers and enablers to reducing meat intake, and perceptions of sustainable diets, were examined among adults with low income, who often face barriers to food access and choice. The implementation science framework COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behavior) model was used to contextualize the findings and inform behavior change strategies. Methods: 20 adults in Los Angeles County with low incomes (<300% FPL) participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. Interviewees were asked about their meat intake behaviors and perceptions, barriers and enablers to reduce meat intake, including red and processed meat, and perceptions of sustainable diets. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Five major themes emerged: (1) Interviewees expressed positive attitudes toward eating less red and processed meat, (2) Self-efficacy, knowledge, and skills related to selecting and preparing alternatives enabled meat reduction; (3) Health-related concerns related to reduced meat intake, and the high cost of meat alternatives, were barriers to reduction; (4) Interest in sustainable eating was high; However, (5) sustainable diets are not the current norm, and interviewees described competing priorities and perceptions that these diets are unattainable. Barriers and enablers to meat reduction spanned different COM-B components, and barriers to sustainable eating within the "opportunity" and "motivation" components emerged through interviews. Discussion: Interviewees were interested in consuming more sustainable diets, but faced barriers to reducing their meat intake and adopting sustainable diets. For example, interviewees perceived meat reduction as an important way to save money and benefit their health, yet also expressed concerns related to the unattainability of sustainable diets and had health concerns related to meat reduction. This suggests there is a need for clear communication and education, as well as interventions that strengthen enablers while addressing unique barriers faced by urban populations with low income, such as the high cost and accessibility of plant-based foods.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• How Businesses Set Prices—In Their Own Words

  2025-11-24

  report1st authorCorresponding

  There has been a lot of interest in firms’ pricing decisions in the past few years—both during the inflation surge of 2021-23 and in the more recent rounds of tariff increases. In this post, we let firms speak for themselves about what factors they consider when adjusting prices in response to various shocks. The analysis is based on an ongoing research project, joint with the Atlanta and Cleveland Federal Reserve Banks, on how businesses set prices and the extent of passthrough of cost increases. In particular, we leverage the qualitative portion of the study based on open-ended interviews with senior decision-makers on how they approach pricing decisions in their firms. Rather than a uniform approach, a very nuanced picture emerges of businesses trying to balance competing objectives while keeping an eye on demand conditions for their products as well as on their direct competitors’ behavior in the market.

  PublisherDOI

• Desludging Elicits Less Opposition Than Nudging

  American Journal of Preventive Medicine · 2025-12-12

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  INTRODUCTION: Many Americans are overdue for their colorectal cancer screening. Behavioral scientists have proposed 2 types of interventions to increase screening uptake. First, well-known nudging interventions aim to steer patients toward screening, by, for example, providing default appointments or emphasizing social norms. Second, desludging interventions remove sludge or frictions that make it unnecessarily difficult for patients to screen. Nudging has attracted controversy, but little is known about public attitudes toward desludging. We therefore examined whether opposition and negative perceptions were more common for nudging or desludging and whether these responses varied by political affiliation. METHODS: A randomized cross-sectional survey included 8,735 U.S. residents randomized to 1 of 10 descriptions of interventions intended to increase uptake of colorectal screening, including 5 nudging and 5 desludging interventions. Data were collected and analyzed in 2023-2024. RESULTS: Nudging was more likely than desludging to elicit opposition, perceived ineffectiveness, and perceived threats to freedom, with findings holding across political affiliations. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest widespread support for prioritizing desludging over nudging.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Why do few Medicare beneficiaries switch their Part D prescription drug plans? Insights from behavioral sciences

  Journal of Public Health Policy · 2025-12-23

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Medicare Part D innovatively included a market in public health insurance in the United States. Proponents argued that increased competition would drive better value for beneficiaries, but others feared that beneficiaries would struggle to navigate the complex program. Understanding how Part D beneficiaries choose between plans allows us to evaluate the extent to which Medicare Part D succeeds at increasing value to beneficiaries and where there is scope to support beneficiaries. Many Part D beneficiaries are sensitive to price cues in relation to pharmacy choice and medication adherence, yet frequently overpay for their plans. Empirical literature suggests that behavioral aspects including information overload, low salience, low trust, and practical 'sludge' all partly contribute to failure to switch. We propose solutions to address these barriers based on behavioral insights.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Understanding People with Water Insecurity: Insights from the Lloyd's Register Foundation 2021 World Risk Poll

  2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Water insecurity, or lacking sustainable access to adequate quantities of safe water, is a threat to human health and well-being worldwide.To inform communications for people with water insecurity, we examined key characteristics of people with (vs without) water insecurity around the world, as reported on the 121-country 2021 Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll (n>125,000).We discuss three findings, which showed robustness across multiple analyses.First, participants with (vs without) water insecurity felt less prepared for disasters.Second, local news and emergency services were the most universally trusted information sources, though participants with (vs without) water insecurity trusted these sources slightly less.Third, water safety concerns were more strongly associated with severe weather concerns than with climate change concerns, especially among participants with (vs without) water insecurity.Thus, communications targeting people with water insecurity should aim to improve disaster preparedness, use trusted information sources such as local news and emergency services, and highlight connections between water security threats and worsening severe weather.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Well water testing in African-American communities without municipal infrastructure: Beliefs driving decisions

  UNC Libraries · 2025-07-24

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Women, Younger Adults, and Singles Were Most Likely to Report Loneliness During the Pandemic: Evidence From a 15-Month National Longitudinal Survey

  The International Journal of Aging and Human Development · 2025-07-17 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Self-reports of loneliness were growing in the United States even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Preventative health measures during the pandemic, such as social distancing and lockdowns, raised concerns that self-reports of loneliness would further increase. Published literature from the first few months of the pandemic supported these concerns, but long-term effects were largely unknown. Here, we examined whether self-reported loneliness varied across the pandemic by gender, age, and co-residence with a romantic partner. We conducted an exploratory secondary analysis of 26 survey waves from the understanding COVID in America study spanning 15 months of the pandemic, starting from April 2020. Self-reported loneliness was consistently greater among women, younger people, and those not living with a romantic partner, but decreased across the pandemic for all demographic groups. A significant four-way interaction between survey wave, gender, age, and co-residence with a romantic partner showed that younger women who were not living with a romantic partner were the most likely to report loneliness at the beginning of the pandemic and showed the greatest reduction in risk of loneliness by the last survey wave. Based on our findings, we discuss potential interventions to decrease loneliness.

  PublisherDOI

• Optimizing weblinks embedded within digital vaccination invitations to increase trust and booking intention: Experimental Evidence. (Preprint)

  2025-10-08

  articleOpen access

  <sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> People are encouraged to respond swiftly to digital health invitations like vaccination prompts, but they are also encouraged to question the legitimacy of digital communications. This research focuses on an overlooked aspect of digital communication that can be leveraged to foster trust and user engagement: embedded weblinks. </sec> <sec> <title>OBJECTIVE</title> Drawing from digital communication theory and psychological science, we posited that fluent weblinks that are easy to read and transparently identify the healthcare provider will improve trust and user engagement. </sec> <sec> <title>METHODS</title> In three experiments (total N = 3,183), participants read a hypothetical email from the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) inviting them to book their COVID-19 vaccination by clicking a weblink. The control invitation included the weblink initially used by the UK's national COVID vaccination services. The control weblink is compared to a clear weblink (easy to read and easy to identify host) (Experiment 1 and 3) or to concealed weblinks: a text-embedded weblink and a shortened weblink (Experiment 2 and 3). Participants reported their trust in the invitation, their perceived readability of the weblink, who they thought the website host was, and their intention to book an appointment by clicking on the weblink. </sec> <sec> <title>RESULTS</title> Clear weblinks and text-embedded weblinks increased the identification of the host organization and were perceived as easier to read, which was associated with increased trust perception and booking intention. Shortened weblinks aided host identification but had a detrimental impact on perceived readability and did not increase trust perception or booking intention. </sec> <sec> <title>CONCLUSIONS</title> Health-related digital communications should include readable weblinks with an identifiable host to foster trust and engagement. Where changing the weblink is impractical, concealing it via a text-embedded weblink is an effective alternative. </sec>

  PublisherDOI

• Everything in Its Own Time: Planning Horizons Vary Across Financial Domains

  Journal of Behavioral Decision Making · 2025-08-25 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Financial planning horizons reflect the time periods people use for their financial decisions. They are measured to understand and inform financial decisions and to predict financial outcomes like using a financial advisor, having a retirement account, or having lower inflation expectations. Financial surveys typically ask participants to report one planning horizon for “saving and spending,” seemingly assuming that people use one planning horizon for saving and for spending and that this one planning horizon also applies to other financial domains such as investing and retirement finances. The underlying reasoning may be that money is fungible, with one extra dollar of spending removing one dollar from the money available for saving, investing, or retirement finances. Here, we report on three US‐wide studies in which people indicated using different planning horizons across financial domains, which were differentially associated with financial outcomes. Median planning horizons were significantly shorter for saving and spending than for retirement finances (Study 1); for spending than for saving (Study 2); and, in order, for spending, saving, investing, and retirement finances (Study 3). Short‐term (vs. long‐term) planning horizons were often more valid predictors of financial outcomes (Studies 1–3), suggesting that short‐term planning horizons may take precedence in financial decisions. A combination of short‐term and long‐term planning horizons may even have independent associations with financial outcomes (Study 3). We conclude that planning horizon questions should ask about specific financial domains and that multiple planning horizons may be relevant to specific financial outcomes.

  PublisherDOI

• Disaster Preparedness and Perceptions of People who Experienced Water Insecurity: Insights from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s World Risk Poll

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2025-08-05 · 2 citations

  articleCorresponding

  Water insecurity, or lack of sustainable access to adequate quantities of safe water, is a threat to human health and well-being worldwide. To inform communications for people with water insecurity, we examined key characteristics of people who reported (vs did not report) water insecurity on the 121-country 2021 Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll (n > 125,000). We discuss three findings, which were robust across multiple analyses. First, participants who reported (vs did not report) water insecurity felt less prepared for disasters. Second, local news and emergency services were the most universally trusted information sources, though participants who reported (vs did not report) water insecurity trusted these sources slightly less. Third, water-safety concerns were more strongly associated with severe weather concerns than with climate change concerns, especially among participants who reported (vs did not report) water insecurity. Thus, communications targeting people who have experienced water insecurity should aim to improve disaster preparedness, use trusted information sources such as local news and emergency services, and highlight connections between water-safety threats and worsening severe weather.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Andrew M. Parker

  Monash University

  120 shared

• Baruch Fischhoff

  Carnegie Mellon University

  112 shared

• JoNell Strough

  West Virginia University

  95 shared

• Wilbert van der Klaauw

  41 shared

• Julie S. Downs

  Carnegie Mellon University

  36 shared

• Andrea Taylor

  University of Leeds

  34 shared

• M. Granger Morgan

  28 shared

• Giorgio Topa

  27 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Public Policy

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1999

• M.A., Public Policy

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1996

• B.A., Political Science

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1993