Review of "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness"

Review of the book "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness" by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Nudge, Choice Architecture, and Libertarian Paternalism

In Nudge, Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler describe how public and private institutions can improve on individual choices by nudging individuals into making selections that are right for them. Rejecting the Econ-101 caricature of the rational utility maximizer as inaccurate, Sunstein and Thaler apply the insights of behavioral economics to show how institutions can improve the delivery of services. Moving beyond attempts to remedy individual cognitive errors, Sunstein and Thaler also argue for libertarian paternalism - which they herald as the Third Way. This Review assesses their claims critically, finding their development of nudge and choice architecture to be welcome additions to public-policy analysis, but ultimately concluding that libertarian paternalism is a politically impoverished vision

Libertarian Paternalism Is Not An Oxymoron

Cass R. Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler assert that while the idea of libertarian paternalism might seem to be an oxymoron, it is both possible and legitimate for private and public institutions to affect behavior while also respecting freedom of choice. Often people's preferences are ill-formed, and their choices will inevitably be influenced by default rules, framing effects, and starting points. In these circumstances, a form of paternalism cannot be avoided. Equipped with an understanding of behavioral findings of bounded rationality and bounded self-control, libertarian paternalists should attempt to steer people's choices in welfare-promoting directions without eliminating freedom of choice. Sunstein and Thaler argue that it is also possible to show how a libertarian paternalist might select among the possible options and to assess how much choice to offer. This paper gives examplesfrom many areas, including savings behavior, labor law, and consumer protection.

Portándose Epistemológicamente Mal (a Propósito del Nóbel a Richard Thaler) .

Contra todo pronóstico, la Economía del Comportamiento (EC) recibió en 2017 un nuevo Premio Nóbel de Economía, esta vez a manos de Richard Thaler. Los cuarenta años que Thaler dedicó a pensar la conducta económica humana fueron los mismos que invirtió la teoría macro tradicional en profundizar y entronizar hasta lo grotesco al homo economicus. Thaler fue un precursor del análisis de los efectos macroeconómicos de los sesgos cognitivos. Aquírevisitamos algunos de sus aspectos metodológicos, y las batallas epistemológicas que desataron. Las contribuciones de Thaler fueron importantes pero no suficientes para una revisión contundente de los “microfundamentos” ultrarracionales presentes en los modelos modernos. Pero hay una esperanza: se han emprendido programas de trabajo con el objetivo de identificar cuáles sesgos son determinantes, cómo están relacionados entre sí, y qué consecuencias económicas predicen para el individuo. Richard Thaler seguramente aprobaría esta empresa con total satisfacción

Expected utility: a defense

In recent papers Matthew Rabin and Richard H. Thaler have argued that expected utility theory generates implausible predictions about individuals' attitudes toward small vs. large risks. Specifically, these authors argued that expected utility theory, plus the assertion that individuals reject small risks that are actuarially unfavorable, implies that agents should reject large risks which in fact they would accept. In this paper we question the presumption that the small risks are in fact rejected: they have risk-return characteristics that are superior to those of the daily returns on common stocks, which individuals generally find acceptable.

Evaluating Libertarian Paternalism

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate a form of soft paternalism put forth by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein known as libertarian paternalism. On their view, criteria are provided for distinguishing between justified and unjustified libertarian paternalism policy proposals. The central philosophical issue surrounding libertarian paternalism is determining when limitations on autonomy for the sake of beneficence are justified. However, the criteria given by Thaler and Sunstein are inadequate because they do not effectively overcome problematic case examples. I contend that an additional autonomy-based condition should be added to their criteria. Specifically, autonomy may trump beneficence in favor of rejection of a policy if certain crucial autonomy considerations are violated

Allowing Patients to Waive the Right to Sue for Medical Malpractice: A Response to Thaler and Sunstein

This essay critically evaluates Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s proposal to allow patients to prospectively waive their rights to bring a malpractice claim, presented in their recent, much acclaimed book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness. We show that the behavioral insights that undergird Nudge do not support the waiver proposal. In addition, we demonstrate that Thaler and Sunstein have not provided a persuasive cost-benefit justification for the proposal. Finally, we argue that their liberty-based defense of waivers rests on misleading analogies and polemical rhetoric that ignore the liberty and other interests served by patients’ tort law rights. There are many ways in which nudges could be part of reforming medical malpractice litigation and improving the quality of medical care. Thaler and Sunstein’s use of behavioral economics to explore new ways of addressing persistent problems is an invitation to innovative and meaningful policy reform. Our criticisms of their medical malpractice waiver proposal are designed not to disparage this effort, but to remind policymakers of the importance of careful consideration of the facts before choosing a path for change

‘Nudges’ may be effective at times, but policymakers can’t rely on them to tackle entrenched social problems.

Since the publication of 2008’s Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, policy ‘nudges’ have been in fashion, with smaller interventions aimed at altering public behaviour in a subtle manner being adopted by many governments, including in the UK. Frank Mols looked at this phenomenon in a recent journal article, and argues here that while nudges undoubtedly can be effective, their limitations must be kept in mind

Agricola-Mitteilungsblatt I/2003

Mitteilungsblatt der Agricola - Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kultur- und Naturgeschichte Region Schwarze Laber - Tangrintel e. V.; darin u. a.: Olav, Ernst: "Markgräfin Wilhelmine, Richard Wagner, Saurier und Mineralien"; Olav, Ernst; Thaler, Richard: Von Hackenhofen nach Degerndorf - Fünfter Abschnitt der AGRICOLA-Labertalwanderun