Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

By Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein. 2008

4,229 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A groundbreaking discussion of how we can apply the new science of choice architecture to nudge people toward decisions that will improve their lives by making them healthier, wealthier, and more free Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. Nobel laureate Richard Thaler and legal scholar and bestselling author Cass Sunstein explain in this important exploration of choice architecture that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, the family, and even the planet itself. In Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful "choice architecture" can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice. Nudge offers a unique new take-from neither the left nor the right-on many hot-button issues, for individuals and governments alike. This is one of the most engaging and provocative books to come along in many years.

Subfields: Management Science and Operations Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1ef1069349a866b25a361fd91ecb954150719b4f

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In Management Science and Operations Research

Citations in the corpus

Behavioral change for the circular economy: A review with focus on electronic waste management in the EU (2020, background): “In addition, nudging and community-based social marketing are two popular intervention strategies that make the use of cognitive biases and social influences, respectively (McKenzie-Mohr, 2011; Thaler and Sunstein, 2008).”
A systematic review of algorithm aversion in augmented decision making (2019, background): “…decision aids could plausibly be improved with a program of transparent nudges (Bruns, Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, Klement, Jonsson, & Rahali, 2018; Thaler & Sunstein, 2008) and boosts (Hertwig & Grüne-Yanoff, 2017) that remedy human decision makers' motivational deficiencies without impinging on…”
Behavioral Economics of Education (2015, background): “Furthermore, issues such as framing effects (Kahneman and Tversky, 1984), default effects (Thaler and Benartzi, 2004), udges (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008), or cognitive limitations (such as choice and information overload) can play a role hen designing educational policies.”
Family Financial Socialization: Theory and Critical Review (2011, background): “Behavioral economics research is revealing powerful lessons about how practitioners may grapple with human misperceptions, preference for the status quo, and behavior that can seem irrational, to set up structures for better choice-making and maintenance of successful behavior patterns (Thaler and S”
Behavioural Insights and (Un)healthy Dietary Choices: a Review of Current Evidence (2018, background): “To count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid” (Thaler and Sunstein 2008, p.6) (also see Sunstein 2018; Sunstein and Thaler 2003).”
The Categorization of Time and Its Impact on Task Initiation (2014, background): “Choice Architecture Designing choice environments that nudge consumers into undertaking a desired course of action is of growing interest to academics, practitioners, and policy makers alike (Thaler and Sunstein 2008).”
The relationship between interior office space and employee health and well-being – a literature review (2020, background): “Creating obvious, easy and attractive opportunities for physical activity, relaxation and positive social interaction may stimulate desired behaviour through ‘nudging’ (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008).”
The Superiority of Economists (2015, background): “If things don’t work the way they should, then a smart readjustment, a “nudge,” may even be called for (Thaler and Sunstein 2008).”
Viewpoint: Regulating meat consumption to improve health, the environment and animal welfare (2020, background): “There is empirical evidence on the efficiency of nudges in the health environment, as well as in the food choice domains (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008).”
The Climate Change Challenge and Barriers to the Exercise of Foresight Intelligence (2016, background): “Therefore, individuals “nudged” (Thaler and Sunstein 2008), without coercion or huge incentives, to act in accord with environmentally friendly values come to hold, endorse, and even spread those values.”