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Nudges Do Not Undermine Human Agency

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  • Cass Sunstein

Abstract

Some people believe that nudges undermine human agency, but with appropriate nudges, neither agency nor consumer freedom is at risk. On the contrary, nudges can promote both goals. In some contexts, they are indispensable. There is no opposition between education on the one hand and nudges on the other. Many nudges are educative. Even when they are not, they can complement, and not displace, consumer education. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Cass Sunstein, 2015. "Nudges Do Not Undermine Human Agency," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 207-210, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jcopol:v:38:y:2015:i:3:p:207-210
    DOI: 10.1007/s10603-015-9289-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ximena Cadena & Antoinette Schoar, 2011. "Remembering to Pay? Reminders vs. Financial Incentives for Loan Payments," NBER Working Papers 17020, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Saurabh Bhargava & George Loewenstein & Justin Sydnor, 2015. "Do Individuals Make Sensible Health Insurance Decisions? Evidence from a Menu with Dominated Options," NBER Working Papers 21160, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Benjamin N. York & Susanna Loeb, 2014. "One Step at a Time: The Effects of an Early Literacy Text Messaging Program for Parents of Preschoolers," NBER Working Papers 20659, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dominic Lemken & Ainslee Erhard & Simone Wahnschafft, 2024. "A choice architect’s guide to the (autonomous) galaxy: a systematic scoping review of nudge intrusiveness in food choices," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Diederich, Johannes & Goeschl, Timo & Waichman, Israel, 2023. "Self-nudging is more ethical, but less efficient than social nudging," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277679, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Oliver Nnamdi Okafor, 2023. "Shaming of Tax Evaders: Empirical Evidence on Perceptions of Retributive Justice and Tax Compliance Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(2), pages 377-395, January.
    4. Clareta Treger, 2023. "When do people accept government paternalism? Theory and experimental evidence," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 195-214, January.
    5. Raineau, Yann & Giraud-Héraud, Éric & Lecocq, Sébastien, 2025. "Social comparison nudges: What actually happens when we are told what others do?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    6. Wachner, Jonas & Adriaanse, Marieke & Hoven, Mariette van den & de Ridder, Denise, 2022. "Does default organ donation registration compromise autonomous choice? Public responses to a new donor registration system," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(9), pages 899-905.
    7. Naira R. Matevosyan, 2018. "Rediscovering Comte de Saint-Simon: From Aristocracy to Meritocracy, a Journey to Inclusion," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, March.
    8. Diederich, Johannes & Goeschl, Timo & Waichman, Israel, 2025. "Trading off autonomy and efficiency in choice architectures: Self-nudging versus social nudging," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    9. E. Reijnen & S. J. Kühne & H. M. Gugelberg & A. Crameri, 2019. "Nudged to a Menu Position: The Role of “I’m Loving It”!," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 441-453, September.
    10. Joseph L. Scarpaci & Benjamin K. Sovacool & Ronnie Ballantyne, 2016. "A Critical Review of the Costs of Advertising: a Transformative Consumer Research Perspective," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 119-140, June.
    11. Diederich, Johannes & Goeschl, Timo & Waichman, Israel, 2022. "Self-Nudging vs. Social Nudging in Social Dilemmas: An Experiment," Working Papers 0710, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    12. Johannes Köhler & Jerome Amir Singh & Rennie Stuart & Julia Samuelson & Andreas Alois Reis, 2022. "Ethical implications of economic compensation for voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention and epidemic control," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(12), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Shengnan Ren & Dawei Liu, 2024. "Effects of digital nudging on the adoption of APPs for value co-creation among online consumers," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 161-172, June.

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