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2016 | Buch

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Nudge Theory in Action

Behavioral Design in Policy and Markets

herausgegeben von: Sherzod Abdukadirov

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Palgrave Advances in Behavioral Economics

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This collection challenges the popular but abstract concept of nudging, demonstrating the real-world application of behavioral economics in policy-making and technology. Groundbreaking and practical, it considers the existing political incentives and regulatory institutions that shape the environment in which behavioral policy-making occurs, as well as alternatives to government nudges already provided by the market. The contributions discuss the use of regulations and technology to help consumers overcome their behavioral biases and make better choices, considering the ethical questions of government and market nudges and the uncertainty inherent in designing effective nudges. Four case studies - on weight loss, energy efficiency, consumer finance, and health care - put the discussion of the efficiency of nudges into concrete, recognizable terms. A must-read for researchers studying the public policy applications of behavioral economics, this book will also appeal to practicing lawmakers and regulators.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Introduction: Regulation versus Technology as Tools of Behavior Change

Abstract

In this volume, we attempt to remedy this shortcoming of the nudge literature by comparing and contrasting the two primary tools for behavior change: regulations and technology. As the chapters in this volume discuss, there is a wide array of products on the market that aim to help consumers make better decisions and improve their lives. Financial advisors and personal finance apps help consumers stay on track with their finances. Numerous diets and recently popular wearable technology tools help consumers reduce the negative impacts of excess weight. Similar to policy nudges, these tools increasingly incorporate behavioral insights to become more effective in helping consumers overcome their biased decision-making.

Sherzod Abdukadirov

Theory

Frontmatter

Overview of Behavioral Economics and Policy

Abstract

This chapter introduces some of the ethical and practical aspects of behavioral interventions on the part of the government as well as private parties such as individuals and firms. While the subversion of rational processes of deliberation is an important issue to consider with respect to all behavioral interventions, it is the government’s use of these measures to steer people’s choices in their own interests that uniquely invokes the dangers of paternalism and the denial of personal autonomy to pursue one’s idea of the good life. Behavioral interactions that are initiated and directed by decision-makers themselves, however, allow people to make better choices, either by overcoming or by leveraging their cognitive biases and dysfunctions, and more important, to do so in their own true interests.

Mark D. White

The Four Pillars of Behavioral Paternalism

Abstract

The development of new paternalism has added a whole new dimension to the increasing power and reach of the state. It creates the impression that areas of behavior which were previously in the domain of private individual behavior can be brought under the domain of state concerns with only minimal restrictions on liberty and autonomy. But this is an illusion. When serious analysis is applied to the problems of new paternalism, especially its epistemic problems, it is easy to see that the dynamic of paternalist arguments leads to the expansion of control of individual behavior.

Mario J. Rizzo

Failing Better: What We Learn by Confronting Risk and Uncertainty

Abstract

When it comes to human health, wealth, and happiness—and to social progress and prosperity more generally—there is no static equilibrium, no final destination. There is only a dynamic and never-ending learning process. Learning from experience provides individuals and organizations with valuable informational inputs regarding which methods work better than others. Even more importantly, learning by doing facilitates social and economic resiliency that helps individuals and organizations develop better coping strategies for when things go wrong. Behavioral theorists and nudge advocates often fail to incorporate these insights into their analysis and policy proposals.

Adam Thierer

Behavioral Nudges and Consumer Technology

Abstract

Almost without public notice, the last few years have seen the explosive growth of behavioral nudges applied to consumer products. Many of these new applications are clearly beneficial to consumers—in fact, consumers pin their hopes on these tools to help them where they have struggled to meet their own goals. Some, however, are clearly more problematic. In this chapter, we take a look at how private sector companies are applying behavioral interventions or “nudges” to consumer products, especially with digital technology.

Steve Wendel

Private-Sector Nudging: The Good, the Bad, and the Uncertain

Abstract

Government has a valuable role as the “nudger of last resort,” especially when nudges can’t or shouldn’t be limited to self-aware or paying customers or when nudges replace more expensive and/or distortionary subsidies and taxes. This role is not without responsibilities, however, namely, to maintain a fiduciary duty to the consumer’s long-term preferences rather than impart value judgments of what consumers’ long-term preferences should be and to give the market a chance to nudge in a helpful manner before taking over to “fix” the situation.

Jodi N. Beggs

Who Should Nudge?

Abstract

This chapter examines the assumption that both governments and private firms can be equally efficient in producing nudges. It describes the different processes that companies follow in creating new products and examines which process is more appropriate for designing nudges. It describes the regulatory process and examines how well it fits the task of designing nudges. It analyzes the challenges that federal and local governments face in designing effective nudges. It contrasts the regulatory process with the process used by the private sector, and finally argues that producing effective nudges requires a more flexible, iterative approach, which the regulatory process cannot accommodate. Consequently, the business of nudging should be left to the private sector.

Sherzod Abdukadirov

Case Studies

Frontmatter

Weight-Loss Nudges: Market Test or Government Guess?

Abstract

This chapter examines the effectiveness of nudges designed to steer us toward better food and beverage consumption behaviors as a means of lowering population weight. It first discusses our state of knowledge on obesity causes and prevention. Next, it presents the basics of nudge theory followed by criticisms of that theory. It then discusses various imperfections that all choice architects—whether in governments or markets—must face, which suggest that nudges are a blunt instrument for reducing population weight. Finally, the paper discusses how nudging by governments differs from nudging by markets, and concludes that market nudging is the more promising avenue for helping citizens lose weight.

Michael Marlow

Nudging in an Evolving Marketplace: How Markets Improve Their Own Choice Architecture

Abstract

To illustrate how markets improve their own choice architecture, this chapter provides examples of various consumer financial products that already incorporate some form of unrecognized private nudging. Credit cards, mortgages, and other basic banking services like overdraft protection are particularly rife with examples of this. The framework helps organize and provide clarity to numerous consumer financial products in a way that challenges current regulatory practices by illuminating the beneficial order already provided by markets. This chapter examines some examples of efforts by government regulators to create regulatory nudges that have displaced the existing choice architecture to determine whether central planning of nudges tends to produce better results for consumers than those evolved by the marketplace.

Adam C. Smith, Todd J. Zywicki

One Standard to Rule Them All: The Disparate Impact of Energy Efficiency Regulations

Abstract

Regulations establishing energy efficiency and fuel economy standards are intended to conserve energy by getting consumers to choose more energy-efficient products. Agencies claim that restricting consumers’ choices provides consumers with enormous net benefits, but this reasoning is hard to reconcile with the fact that consumers have many legitimate reasons to have heterogeneous preferences for the appliances they buy and the cars they drive. In addition to disregarding consumer preferences, these rules may not conserve as much energy as advertised due to unintended behavioral consequences. This chapter explores the reasoning behind energy efficiency regulations and why these reasons are insufficient support for the large costs they impose on consumers, especially low-income consumers.

Sofie E. Miller, Brian F. Mannix

Nudges in Health Care

Abstract

Nudges are a difficult topic to broach. Compared to other health care topics, they are small and, by nature, non-coercive (or only partially coercive). Almost any nudge, taken in isolation, can seem either reasonable or innocuous or both to those of varying ideological persuasions. It is in the aggregate, or in their secondary effects, where nudges may become expensive and disruptive. This chapter will first discuss the streams of thought that contribute to the creation and use of nudges with specific examples of where they exist in health care policy. Following this overview is a series of questions that looks at the validity of using nudges in policy.

Robert Graboyes, Jessica Carges

Conclusion: Behavioral Economics and Policy Interventions

Abstract

The purpose of this book is to demonstrate that there is a strong private sector that helps people’s decision making and that stringent criteria ought to be met before governments attempt to improve on private decision making, whether through structuring information to “nudge” people into making the government-preferred decision or using more stringent measures to achieve the same thing. Where people have difficulty matching their inherent preferences into real life decisions that satisfy those preferences, a private market will almost always arise that can help to match decisions with preferences.

Richard Williams

Backmatter

Titel: Nudge Theory in Action
herausgegeben von: Sherzod Abdukadirov
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-31319-1
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31318-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31319-1