The international appeal of behavioural public policy

Is nudge an Anglo-American phenomenon

Bibliographic Data

ID6153214
AuthorsPeter John (0000-0002-7934-1187, King's College London, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume4
Issue2
Pages144-162
Publication date2019-02-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Chinese Governance (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2381-2354 • E-ISSN: 2381-2346
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23812346.2019.1576264
OpenAlexW2915295465
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited38

Since the publication of Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein (2008) behavioural public policies and nudge units have been widely adopted right across the world, which has resulted in many improvements to the delivery of public policies, such as better tax collection, increased access of young people to education opportunities, and more charitable giving. This paper asks what explains the adoption of nudge units and related initiatives. In particular, are Anglo–American or West European countries the focus for adoption? Are these interventions more likely to appear under left, right, or centre-dominated governments? Ascertaining the origins of nudge can adjudicate the extent to which nudge is partial project, based on the dominance of liberal economies and the preferred programme for centre governments and/or right political ideologies, or whether it has more universal appeal. Using data from OECD and OECD-partner countries, event history models reveal Anglo–American countries to be the drivers, with nudge not favoured by left-controlled governments. Nonetheless, with the interest and level of policy transfer not abating, in future years nudge is likely to appear in a wide variety of contexts, including China

Appeal · Development economics · Dominance (genetics · Economics · Ideology · Legislature · Nudge theory · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Policy Transfer and Learning · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies