On Nudging: A Review of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Abstract
This paper reviews the case for libertarian paternalism presented by Thaler and Sunstein in Nudge. Thaler and Sunstein argue that individuals' preferences are often incoherent, making paternalism is unavoidable; however, paternalistic interventions should 'nudge' individuals without restricting their choices, and should nudge them towards what they would have chosen had they not been subject to specific limitations of rationality. I argue that the latter criterion provides inadequate guidance to nudgers. It is inescapably normative, and so allows nudgers' conceptions of well-being to override those of nudgees. Even if nudgees' rationality were unbounded, their revealed preferences might still be incoherent.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal International Journal of the Economics of Business.
Volume (Year): 16 (2009)
Issue (Month): 3 ()
Pages: 365-373
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Related research
Keywords: Libertarian Paternalism; Soft Paternalism; Nudging;References
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Christian Schubert, 2012. "Pursuing Happiness," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2012-01, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group.
- Jose-Luis Pinto-Prades & Jose-Maria Abellan-Perpiñan, 2011.
"When normative and descriptive diverge: how to bridge the difference,"
Working Papers
11.06, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
- Jose-Luis Pinto-Prades & Jose-Maria Abellan-Perpiñan, 2012. "When normative and descriptive diverge: how to bridge the difference," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 569-584, April.
- Sabine Frerichs, 2011. "False Promises? A Sociological Critique of the Behavioural Turn in Law and Economics," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 289-314, September.
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