Trusting Nudges: Toward A Bill of Rights for Nudging

159 Pages·2019·3.072 MB·English

by  Cass R. Sunstein, Lucia A. Reisch

TrusTing nudges
Many “nudges” aim to make life simpler, safer, or easier for people to navigate,
but what do members of the public really think about these policies? Drawing on
surveys from numerous nations around the world, Sunstein and Reisch explore
whether citizens approve of nudge policies. Their most important finding is sim-
ple and striking. In diverse countries, both democratic and nondemocratic, strong
majorities approve of nudges designed to promote health, safety, and environmen-
tal protection—and their approval cuts across political divisions.
In recent years, many governments have implemented behaviorally informed
policies, focusing on nudges—understood as interventions that preserve freedom of
choice, but that also steer people in certain directions. In some circles, nudges have
become controversial, with questions raised about whether they amount to forms of
manipulation. This fascinating book carefully considers these criticisms and answers
important questions. What do citizens actually think about behaviorally informed
policies? Do citizens have identifiable principles in mind when they approve or dis-
approve of the policies? Do citizens of different nations agree with each other?
From the answers to these questions, the authors identify six principles of
legitimacy—a “bill of rights” for nudging that build on strong public support for
nudging policies around the world, while also recognizing what citizens disapprove
of. Their bill of rights is designed to capture citizens’ central concerns, reflecting
widespread commitments to freedom and welfare that transcend national b oundaries.
Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard, USA. From
2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral
Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School.
Lucia A. Reisch is a behavioral economist and Professor at Copenhagen Business
School, Denmark. She also holds a permanent Guest Professorship at the Zeppelin
University of Friedrichshafen, Germany, and an appointment as honorary Leibniz
Chair, awarded by the German Leibniz Association and the Leibniz Institute of
Prevention Research and Epidemiology.
rouTledge AdvAnces in BehAviourAl
economics And FinAnce
Edited by Roger Frantz
Traditionally, economists have based their analysis of financial markets and
corporate finance on the assumption that agents are fully rational, emotion-
less, self-interested maximizers of expected utility. However, behavioural
economists are increasingly recognizing that financial decision makers may
be subject to psychological biases, and the effects of emotions. Examples
of this include the effects on investors’ and managers’ decision-making
of such biases as excessive optimism, overconfidence, confirmation bias,
and illusion of control. At a practical level, the current state of the financial
markets suggests that trust between investors and managers is of paramount
importance.
Routledge Advances in Behavioural Economics and Finance presents innovative and
cutting-edge research in this fast-paced and rapidly growing area, and will
be of great interest to academics, practitioners, and policy-makers alike.
All proposals for new books in the series can be sent to the series editor,
Roger Frantz, at [email protected].
1. Behavioural economics and Business ethics
Interrelations and Applications
Alexander Rajko
2. Bounded rationality and Behavioural economics
Graham Mallard
3. Behavioural Approaches to corporate governance
Cameron Elliott Gordon
4. Trusting nudges
Toward a Bill of Rights for Nudging
Cass R. Sunstein and Lucia A. Reisch
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Advances-in-Behavioural-Economics-and-Finance/book-series/
RABEF
TrusTing nudges
Toward a Bill of rights for nudging
Cass R. Sunstein and Lucia A. Reisch
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Cass R. Sunstein and Lucia A. Reisch
The right of Cass R. Sunstein and Lucia A. Reisch to be identified as authors of
this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sunstein, Cass R., author. | Reisch, Lucia A., author.
Title: Trusting nudges: toward a bill of rights for nudging / Cass R. Sunstein and
Lucia A. Reisch.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019. |
Series: Routledge advances in behavioural economics and finance |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subjects: LCSH: Policy sciences—Psychological aspects. | Common
good—Psychological aspects. | Decision making—Psychological aspects. |
Economics—Psychological aspects. | Public opinion.
Classification: LCC H97 (ebook) | LCC H97 .S9535 2019 (print) |
DDC 320.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018043517
ISBN: 978-1-138-32278-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-45164-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Joanna
by codeMantra
To the memory of our fathers

conTenTs
List of figures viii
List of tables ix
Preface xi
1 Why public opinion matters 1
2 The united states, 1: evidence 8
3 The united states, 2: Principles 19
4 europe 29
5 A global consensus? not quite 53
6 Trusting nudges 71
7 educative nudges and noneducative nudges 95
8 misconceptions 119
9 A Bill of rights for nudging 128
Acknowledgments 139
Index 141
Figures
4.1 Bar charts for information nudges: Government
campaigns, total support in % (unweighted) 37
4.2 Bar charts for information nudges, governmentally
mandated; total support in % (unweighted) 38
4.3 Bar charts for default rules, total support in % (unweighted) 39
4.4 Bar chart for subliminal ads, total support in % (unweighted) 40
4.5 Bar charts for other mandates 41
5.1 General information campaigns. CI, confidence interval 59
5.2 Mandatory information imposed by governments. CI,
confidence interval 60
5.3 Mandatory default rules imposed by governments. CI,
confidence interval 61
5.4 Mandatory subliminal advertising. CI, confidence interval 62
5.5 Mandatory choice architecture. CI, confidence interval 62
6.1 Correlation heatmap of relevant variables 76
6.2 Overall nudge approval, conditional on trust in institutions 77
6.3 Predicted marginal probabilities for approval,
conditional on institutional trust 80
A6.1 Nudge approval by gender (all studies) 84
A6.2 Nudge approval among different time periods for
South Korea (K), Denmark (DK), and Germany (G) 86
TABles
2.1 American attitudes toward prominent recent nudges 10
2.2 American attitudes toward six educational campaigns 11
2.3 American attitudes toward environmental and public
health nudges 12
2.4 American attitudes toward some potentially
provocative nudges 13
2.5 Unpopular defaults 15
2.6 Unpopular education campaigns and disclosure 17
4.1 The 15 items of the survey 32
4.2 Overview on approval rates for the 15 nudges in the six
surveyed countries 34
A4.1 Samples, sampling, and methodology 48
A4.2 Overview of political parties in the surveyed countries 49
A4.3 Clusters of the political parties in the surveyed countries 50
A4.4 Estimates of demographics and political attitude on
nudge approval: Multilevel analysis 51
5.1 Estimates of selected socio-demographics and
political attitude on nudge approval per nudge cluster:
Multilevel analysis 64
A5.1 Observations RIM weighted/unweighted for all countries 70
6.1 Weighted OLS regression for different nudge clusters
(2018 survey) 78