Back to the sources of nudges

Nudges are becoming an increasing part of the daily lives of individuals, consumers and citizens. They have problematic implications in respect to individual freedom, autonomy, and, by the same token, of potential choice manipulation that could arise from them. There is therefore a vital need both to understand the workings of these tools based on human psychology, and to determine whether they are legitimate interferences in individual choices. All around the world academics, but also politicians and journalists join in to try work out an assessment of nudges. The present paper wishes to contribute to the debate in presenting an intellectual history perspective (as opposed to psychology, economics or behavioural sciences which are often used in discussions on nudges) on these new regulatory instruments. It is not the purpose of the present paper to look at the influence of philosophers in the shaping of nudges, as indeed the notion of influence is difficult to trace; and as nudges certainly owe more to the development of psychology and to the application of behavioural insights to economics than to philosophy

Autonomy · Behavioral economics · Economics · Epistemology · Freedom of choice · Nudge theory · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Positive economics · Sociology · Computer Science · Economic Theory and Institutions · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology