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The Power to Nudge

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  • SCHMIDT, ANDREAS T.

Abstract

Nudging policies rely on behavioral science to improve people's decisions through small changes in the environments within which people make choices. This article first seeks to rebut a prominent objection to this approach: furnishing governments with the power to nudge leads to relations of alien control, that is, relations in which some people can impose their will on others—a concern which resonates with republican, Kantian, and Rousseauvian theories of freedom and relational theories of autonomy. I respond that alien control can be avoided, if nudging is suitably transparent and democratically controlled. Moreover, such transparency and democratic control are institutionally feasible. Building on this response, I then provide a novel and surprising argument for more nudging: democratically controlled public policy nudging can often contain the power of private companies to nudge in uncontrolled and opaque ways. Therefore, reducing alien control often requires more rather than less nudging in public policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Schmidt, Andreas T., 2017. "The Power to Nudge," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 111(2), pages 404-417, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:111:y:2017:i:2:p:404-417_12
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    Cited by:

    1. Grant J. Rozeboom, 2022. "The Virtues of Relational Equality at Work," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 307-326, October.
    2. Elena Kantorowicz‐Reznichenko & Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, 2021. "To follow or not to follow the herd? Transparency and social norm nudges," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 362-377, August.
    3. Benjamin H. Detenber, 2021. "Nudging in Singapore: Current Implementation in Three Key Areas," Journal of Asian Economic Integration, , vol. 3(1), pages 74-92, April.
    4. Benner Maximilian, 2020. "Overcoming overtourism in Europe: Towards an institutional-behavioral research agenda," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 64(2), pages 74-87, June.
    5. Grant J. Rozeboom, 2023. "How to Evaluate Managerial Nudges," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 1073-1086, February.
    6. Netta Barak‐Corren & Yael Kariv‐Teitelbaum, 2021. "Behavioral responsive regulation: Bringing together responsive regulation and behavioral public policy," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 163-182, November.
    7. Xiangyu Wang & Min Zhang & Weiguo Fan & Kang Zhao, 2022. "Understanding the spread of COVID‐19 misinformation on social media: The effects of topics and a political leader's nudge," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(5), pages 726-737, May.

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