Every day we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. Nudge
Written by behavioural economist Richard Thaler and his colleague, Cass Sunstein, Nudge shows that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society.
Nudge is an argument for the gentle steer that neither forces people down one path nor ignores them as they blunder. The authors call it libertarian paternalism, a deliberate oxymoron. As in the case of placing desserts in a lunch line, they say, institutions inevitably affect people’s choices, so they should do so carefully.
Nudge picks up where Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational
To take a couple of examples from the book, it turns out that people can be encouraged (or nudged) to use less gas and electricity, simply by letting them know how much they use in comparison with their neighbours. Similarly, the numbers of people signed up as organ donors could be massively increased by making it an opt-out system rather than an opt-in system.
The book is also accompanied by a website and blog, the latter which features an article on how visible real-time fuel gauges can nudge us to more efficient fuel usage.
