Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

304 Pages·2008·1.87 MB·English

NUDGE
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NUDGE
Improving Decisions About
Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Richard H. Thaler
Cass R. Sunstein
Yale University Press
New Haven & London
A Caravan book. For more information, visit
www.caravanbooks.org.
Copyright © 2008 by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including
illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by
Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by
reviewers for the public press), without written permission from
the publishers.
Set in Galliard and Copperplate 33 types by The Composing Room
of Michigan, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thaler, Richard H., 1945–
Nudge : improving decisions about health, wealth, and
happiness / Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-12223-7 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Economics—
Psychological aspects. 2. Choice (Psychology)—Economic
aspects. 3. Decision making—Psychological aspects.
4.Consumer behavior. I. Sunstein, Cass R. II. Title.
HB74.P8T53 2008
330.01(cid:2)9—dc22
2007047528
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book
Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For France, who makes everything in life better, even this book
—RHT
For Ellyn, who knows when to nudge her father
—CRS
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
PART I HUMANS AND ECONS
1 Biases and Blunders 17
2 Resisting Temptation 40
3 Following the Herd 53
4 When Do We Need a Nudge? 72
5 Choice Architecture 81
PART II MONEY
6 Save More Tomorrow 103
7 Naïve Investing 118
8 Credit Markets 132
9 Privatizing Social Security: Smorgasbord Style 145
VII
VIII CONTENTS
PART III HEALTH
10 Prescription Drugs: Part D for Daunting 159
11 How to Increase Organ Donations 175
12 Saving the Planet 183
PART IV FREEDOM
13 Improving School Choices 199
14 Should Patients Be Forced to Buy Lottery Tickets? 207
15 Privatizing Marriage 215
PART V EXTENSIONS AND OBJECTIONS
16 A Dozen Nudges 229
17 Objections 236
18 The Real Third Way 252
Notes 255
Bibliography 263
Index 283
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research for this book would not have been possible without
financial support from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Busi-
ness and Law School. We have also received generous support from the
John Templeton Foundation through a grant to the Center for Decision
Research.
Many people have helped us with this book. Sydelle Kramer, our agent,
provided wonderful advice throughout. Michael O’Malley, our editor,
made valuable suggestions on the manuscript. Dan Heaton, our copy edi-
tor, cleaned up our writing with style and good humor. Special thanks to
our fun and stellar team of research assistants, extending over two sum-
mers; they include John Balz (who gets double thanks for putting up with
us for two summers), Rachael Dizard, Casey Fronk, Matthew Johnson,
Heidi Liu, Brett Reynolds, Matthew Tokson, and Adam Wells. Kim
Bartko was invaluable in helping us with the artwork in the book and with
the cover design.
Many colleagues made the book a lot better. For insights, hints, and
even a few nudges beyond the call of both friendship and duty, we single
out Shlomo Benartzi, Elizabeth Emens, Nick Epley, Dan Gilbert, Tom
Gilovich, Jonathan Guryan, Justine Hastings, Christine Jolls, Daniel Kah-
neman, Emir Kamenica, Dean Karlan, David Leonhardt, Michael Lewis,
Brigitte Madrian, Cade Massey, Phil Maymin, Sendhil Mullainathan, Don
Norman, Eric Posner, Richard Posner, Raghu Rajan, Dennis Regan, Tom
Russell, Jesse Shapiro, Jennifer Tesher, Edna Ullmann-Margalit, Adrian
IX