Nudge Versus Boost
Agency Dynamics Under Libertarian Paternalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9719919 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ralph Hertwig (0000-0002-9908-9556, Max Planck Institute for Human Development), Michael D Ryall (0000-0002-7116-4606, University of Toronto, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 130 |
| Issue | 629 |
| Pages | 1384-1415 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Economic Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0133 • E-ISSN: 1468-0297 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ej/uez054 |
| OpenAlex | W3123531672 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 43 |
Thaler and Sunstein (2008) advance the concept of ‘nudge’ policies—non-regulatory and non-fiscal mechanisms designed to enlist people's cognitive biases or motivational deficits so as to guide their behaviour in a desired direction. A core assumption of this approach is that policymakers make artful use of people's cognitive biases and motivational deficits in ways that serve the ultimate interests of the nudged individual. We analyse a model of dynamic policymaking in which the policymaker's preferences are not always aligned with those of the individual. One novelty of our set-up is that the policymaker has the option to implement a ‘boost’ policy, equipping the individual with the competence to overcome the nudge-enabling bias once and for all. Our main result identifies conditions under which the policymaker chooses not to boost in order to preserve the option of using the nudge (and its associated bias) in the future—even though boosting is in the immediate best interests of both the policymaker and the individual. We extend our analysis to situations in which the policymaker can be removed (e.g., through an election) and in which the policymaker is similarly prone to bias. We conclude with a discussion of some policy implications of these findings
Agency (philosophy · Competence (human resources · Dynamic inconsistency · Economics · Microeconomics · Novelty · Order (exchange · Positive economics · Public economics · Sociology · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Housing Market and Economics · Psychology · Social Psychology
Heuristics
World Trade Report 2015
Nudge Versus Boost
Math at home adds up to achievement in school
Do Defaults Save Lives?
The New Science of Wise Psychological Interventions
Nudging and Boosting
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Optimal Defaults and Active Decisions
Changing Human Behavior to Prevent Disease
Social norms and energy conservation
The Ethics of Nudge
Energy Conservation “Nudges” and Environmentalist Ideology: Evidence From a Randomized Residential Electricity Field Experiment
The base rate fallacy reconsidered
Bayes Rule as a Descriptive Model
Judgment under Uncertainty
Confirmation Bias
When to consider boosting
Why incoherent preferences do not justify paternalism
"Rational" Expectations, the Optimal Monetary Instrument, and the Optimal Money Supply Rule
Do Educated Leaders Matter
Do Democracies Select More Educated Leaders
Competing on Good Politicians
| Citations per year | 1.4 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |