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Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health,…
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Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (original 2008; edition 2008)

by Richard H. Thaler (Author), Cass R. Sunstein (Author)

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3,864643,156 (3.52)42
my first DNF for the year...

i'm disappointed with myself...for a long time i was looking forward to reading this book, only to get so bogged down i had to finally give up a few pages short of the half-way point.

the first 5 chapters were really good. scholarly, but entertaining. then followed chapters of case studies that leaned more on the sides of economics and governance rather done on psychology and personal development...and i just struggled. i'm really interested in this topic, too...so maybe i'm just not really in the mood.

plus, the book was very targeted to an american audience. not a bad thing since the lessons can be generalized. but when i have to do that mental adjustment every chapter...when my focus is already running away from me...

maybe i'll pick it up again sometime
  riida | Mar 5, 2022 |
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Showing 1-25 of 59 (next | show all)
I can't think of a better public policy book than Nudge for the clear exposition of economic research, thoughtful suggestions, and downright humour. This is a book written for a country of diverse and strident opinions. Thaler and Sunstein suggest an incremental approach to public policy: why not nudge people into making better decisions for themselves. Leave them just enough choice to make them feel ownership over pension contributions, choice of medical insurance, even marriage. It's also a prescription for breaking the logjam in US Congress by taking a thoughtful, slightly right of centre approach to government. On my recent vacation to the West Coast I saw the ultimate bumper sticker for a cynical electorate: "Recycle Congress." ( )
  MylesKesten | Jan 23, 2024 |
Good read for those interested in UX, economics, and policy. ( )
  matsuko | Aug 17, 2023 |
The first few chapters are golden. The rest of the book is for those who cannot apply the first chapters on their own. ( )
  bobunwired | Nov 19, 2022 |
The short version: Humans have cognitive biases that affect their decision making. Using what we know about these biases, we can design choice architectures that make it easy for people to make good choices without taking the freedom to choose away from those who want to do so. Thaler and Sunstein describe these principles and give examples of how they can be applied to saving money, health care, and preserving freedoms.

Nudge acknowledges both the failures of one-size-fits-all government solutions and why cognitive biases cause the market to fail as a mechanism for providing social good.

Details on the later since the former seems more obvious to me. The purpose of the market is to maximize profit. Ideally, this goal lines up with the goals of general social good. This is often the case because competition allows people to go with the solution that best meets their goals.

However, cognitive biases can throw a wrench in this system. Advertising is the most obvious way. The whole purpose of marketing departments is to figure out how to provide information in a way that takes advantage of cognitive biases.

Things still work out for the most part for choices that are frequent and give good feedback. No amount of marketing is going to make people like a bad candy bar. This is less true for decisions that are rare or have no feedback (e.g., health care, marriage, retirement investing, buying a house). Good decisions are hard because information is lacking, feedback is slow, and educating yourself can be difficult and confusing.

The authors suggest, and I agree, that a fruitful compromise is to use nudges. A choice architecture structured around nudges allows users to make choices but ensure that the easy decision is good enough for most users*.

An example: Many companies provide 401k plans with automatic enrollment. Getting out of these plans is easy enough, and this nudge has greatly increased 401k plan enrollment. Wonderful! The market is working all on its own**. But we can still make things better. When automatic enrollment is used, some default investment must be chosen. The default is often overly conservative because companies do not want to be liable for losses. Employees will often stay with this plan, even if they increase their contribution, because they assume the default choice is a good choice. A useful nudge here would be for the government to give best practices guidelines that suggest better investments and remove liability for losses for defaults which follow those guidelines.

That is just one example. The point is that by changing the choice architecture, we can create decisions that allow for choice while still making it easy to make a decision that is good enough. These nudges may come from the government or from the market, but both are necessary because they both have their own strengths and weaknesses.



* Yes, nudges could be used for bad as well as for good and you have to trust those making the choice architecture to make the nudged decision a good one without making alternatives too difficult. Given that, I still think nudges are better than one-size-fits-all solutions. I also believe that we already have nudges used for (sometimes) bad; it is called marketing. We may as well give the same tools to those who would use them to get rid of one-size-fits-all solutions.

** Not strictly true. There are laws that incentive companies to offer 401k plans, but we will ignore those for now. ( )
  eri_kars | Jul 10, 2022 |
Addresses psychology, cognitive flaws and biases and behavioral economics, but the recommendations are more skewed toward social science and government/public policy (issues like pension schemes, climate change, organ donation etc.)

This was probably ground-breaking in 2008 but not especially impressive now compared to the host of behavioral economic books out there. The main value-add for me was probably the concept Libertarian Paternalism?

What I liked:
1. There were quite a few fresh examples (unlike some of the more commonly-used examples already found in other books).
2. The focus of the book is skewed toward government policies which can be extremely complex, and the authors did a credible job in presenting the host of consideration and nuances. [There were also some discussions on personal decisions].

What I didn’t like:
1. A lot of facts and details that often didn’t lead to a clear point. Maybe the message is eventually made somewhere, but it’s not always clear where the rambling was headed.
2. Given the sheer amount of nuances involved in the case studies, it would've been helpful if the authors made the points easier to sieve out. In SOME places they added short summaries to recap what they were trying to say. But the points didn't always gel directly with the details presented before.
3. They spoke about Covid-19 nudges and mistakes without going into detail....I found that disappointing as I thought it would have been a great case study.

In short, the book comes with some great ideas. BUT it could've been written in a way that makes it much more compelling. In the authors’ own words “We have tried to clear up some of the examples of imprecise writing in this version….” And they did it partially by adding a concluding chapter to clarify what they were trying to say in the initial chapters…. why not making the writing clear and precise in the whole book in the first place?

What it covers:
• Key behavioral economics principles to understand why people behave the way they do. Find out about our 2 cognitive systems, common mental heuristics or biases, and why we make bad decisions;
• How you can help people to make better decisions yet retain freedom of choice using the Libertarian Paternalism approach;
• What “choice architecture” involves, when you should use nudges, and the tools you can use to design effective nudges;
• How sludge can create the opposite outcomes as nudges, and why/how to de-sludge; and
• Detailed real-world case studies to understand how nudges can be applied to address various challenges/goals including financial well-being (including retirement savings, debt management and insurance) and national/global issues (e.g. organ donation and climate change).

Book summary at: https://readingraphics.com/book-summary-nudge-improving-decisions-about-health-w... ( )
2 vote AngelaLamHF | Jul 6, 2022 |
So much good advice. I really must implement the "insurance deductible account" idea. ( )
  Jerry.Yoakum | Jun 5, 2022 |
my first DNF for the year...

i'm disappointed with myself...for a long time i was looking forward to reading this book, only to get so bogged down i had to finally give up a few pages short of the half-way point.

the first 5 chapters were really good. scholarly, but entertaining. then followed chapters of case studies that leaned more on the sides of economics and governance rather done on psychology and personal development...and i just struggled. i'm really interested in this topic, too...so maybe i'm just not really in the mood.

plus, the book was very targeted to an american audience. not a bad thing since the lessons can be generalized. but when i have to do that mental adjustment every chapter...when my focus is already running away from me...

maybe i'll pick it up again sometime
  riida | Mar 5, 2022 |

To improve our decision making, people need nudges. Nudges are simple decisions we make that make the decisions we make better. This involves using good choice architecture. I like this phrase.

However, I don't really like the book. The book started enough solidly but for me ran out of steam. I love the concept and actually subscribe to their website. The web articles are simpler and more salient.

So, I would probably nudge you to the website instead. ( )
  wellington299 | Feb 19, 2022 |
Digital audiobook read by Lloyd James.

Thaler and Sunstein are professors specializing in Behavioral Economics. This work explores the ways in which decision options are presented to achieve the result the designer hopes for … i.e. the nudges.

I found much of this very interesting and kept thinking of incidents in recent years that pointed out how such nudges were beneficial. Certainly, my parents nudged my saving habits, even though they never studied economics. But not all nudges are beneficial. The book also made me aware of the nudges that I need to be mindful of. (Extended warranties? Uh, no.)

I had to laugh when reading the updated section at the end, and they reported that the single example that got the most attention was the fly in the urinals at Schiphol airport! I’ve been thinking hard about how I might replicate their results to nudge my husband to put the dirty dishes IN the dishwasher vs just on the counter right above the dishwasher.

The digital audiobook I listened to most was read by Lloyd James. He does a fine job, but much of the material is rather dry, and of course, the listener misses the graphs and illustrations. My local library’s CD version was narrated by Sean Pratt. A fellow book club member listened to a version narrated by Richard Thaler. ( )
  BookConcierge | Nov 17, 2021 |
how presentation can affect choices and advocating more choice engineering
  ritaer | Aug 26, 2021 |
Wow! This book starts off really interestingly; it details the way our minds work and the techniques for getting people to listen to your message. All worth reading and I took several pages of notes to reconsider at my leisure.

Then, we hit part two: a party political broadcast on behalf of the neoliberal parties of the world. Oh well, I'll skip that bit and get on to the climate section. As a green, this will recapture my interest...

The text is that money talks. Raise a few taxes, but not too much. The poor will be scared off from fossil fuel use and the rich? Why, they'll pay for ignoring the regulations and the poor are so stupid that they'll take a little extra money and suffer in silence.

Thanks boys, don't call us, we'll call you - all sorts of names! ( )
  the.ken.petersen | Feb 10, 2021 |
Came to get some insights on how to apply nudges to my product management work.
Instead heard how to fix the American society (not used to sharing/caring at a large government scale). Lots and lots of US centered form filling, government policy details.
Good points are:
- raises awareness on the fact that nudges matter
- authors does not put himself too much at the center of the book like other non-fictions these days (thought the use of "we" instead of "I" creates a weird pattern of wondering who he is talking about sometimes)
( )
  jbrieu | Nov 6, 2020 |
Not sure why I read this... Not the kind of thing I like at all. But it does kinda show how to be a sleaze ball and try to push people into doing what you want. That's yucky to me but I suppose if that is your thing this is a good book.

Audiobook note :good narrator. ( )
  marshapetry | Oct 16, 2020 |
This book is intended for "choice architects": people who design situations where others have to make a decision. This includes policymakers, human resources professionals, and teachers; among others. The book advocates a policy of "libertarian paternalism": allowing people to make their own decisions, but subtly encouraging them in one direction through design of default options or explicit propaganda. I found it very interesting and useful for my job ( )
  Rachel_Hultz | Aug 15, 2020 |
This book was written shortly before Barack Obama’s election as U.S. President. Notably, that time was also just before the Great Recession. In that light, this book seems to suggest an ending to the deep conflicts between the world-views of conservative and liberal Baby Boomers and an opening to some sort of resolution of their tensions.

It attempts to paint a middle way between economic conservatives (libertarians) and economic liberals (paternalists), a way called “libertarian paternalism.” This philosophy tries to preserve freedom of choice while allowing a suggested choice (a “nudge”) in the “choice architecture.” By way of reading this over a decade after composition, such a setup is currently practiced through opting into or out of default decisions.

Likewise, in light of ten years of history, this book does not seem quite as revolutionary as it did in the days of Obama’s via media. Much of the new sparkilness of a middle way to solve our national problems has dissipated into entrenched warfare between an old way and a new way. Perhaps voices like Thaler’s and Sunstein’s will end up ruling the day. However, the present and the expected near-future seem bleak in light of the lack of receptivity towards proposals based on intelligence alone. Academically, decision theory (the field of this text) has continued to prove ascendant, and the field’s novelty has been a victim of its own success. This book has played its own role in these stories. It is interesting to peruse its pages with that knowledge.

Nonetheless, it is striking to read the breadth of impact that this acclaimed pair cite. From marriage and homosexuality to organ donation, from the design of urinals to the defaults in workplace benefits, a wide berth of worlds is considered. The scope speaks to the erudition of these economists.

One avenue not much considered by this book is the role of artificial intelligence in selecting such default choices. Will computers prove to be the most enlightened choice architecture? Can instant analyses influence the choice architecture so that human can make better decisions? Time and history will tell. This work should continue to inspire the minds of thoughtful people for a while, and it will sit in the annals of economic history some time to come. ( )
  scottjpearson | Feb 11, 2020 |
Lots of disjointed thoughts here, collected:

They want to help the "least sophisticated" people make fewer mistakes with nudges in the right direction. Are (poor) people less sophisticated, or do they simply have fewer resources and less ability to make mistakes? (Or am I being touchy and is this saying the same thing?)

The RECAP idea made me laugh a little. The techno-optimism is rather extreme. Do you lose "Humans" when you present them with spreadsheets? With proof that financial education doesn't work (that they cite later on!), would requiring high schoolers to use these spreadsheets (as they suggest) be effective?

"Save More Tomorrow," increasing savings rates as people get regular pay increases, assumes that people's wages DO regularly increase, or that they even outpace inflation, which simply isn't the case for many workers anymore.

On school choice: In the end, if you aren't doing something to change how schools are funded (and the circumstances children grow up in), you are still choosing winners and losers. Even given spreadsheets or fact cards, parents with fewer resources will do less to act against inertia.

And as someone who has worked in nonprofits, the Charity Debit Card idea made me laugh. How many people give enough to itemize? Are they the people who need to benefit from an easier tax deduction? Are they motivated to give for that reason, and bookkeeping is what's holding them back? I'd like to find out more about how well FSA has worked -- I know for many people it's more trouble than it's worth. (Not to mention the logistics of billing a charity dinner where not all of your donation is tax-deductible, since part of the price is assumed to pay for your wine and chicken Parm.)

One thing that came up for me over and over was their idea that sunshine is the best disinfectant -- so much so that simply publishing the names of polluting firms or the financial backers of politicians will end the possibility of corruption. I think that there are industries that are too large and too powerful to be impacted by negative publicity (at least in a timely manner; see Monsanto, see Keystone, see even US policy on Guantanamo). There are also industries that can use their power to stop that sort of sunshine to begin with (see Ag Gag laws). It may be Pollyanna-ish of them to assume this won't happen; it may be doom-and-gloom of me to assume it will.

They also mention in passing that Social Security may be on the brink of insolvency, and that subprime loans were not all bad, which, no. ( )
  mirnanda | Dec 27, 2019 |
The first couple chapters are general and interesting -- though the intended audience is 'choice architects,' or the people who set up systems for other people to use to make decisions, and not the individuals making decisions. (The subtitle is a bit misleading.)

The second half of the book examines individual situations and gets a bit boring. ( )
  akaGingerK | Sep 30, 2018 |
I finished Nudge and hit my goal of 52 books in 2017. This is the book my work book club is reading for our first meeting. I made the mistake of suggesting a book I hadn't read. Why do I break my own rules? I thought this was going to be like Freakanomics or Power of Habit, but it was really dry and wonky. I found the libertarian paternalism concept interesting, but I think Thaler's book Misbehaving is much better written. ( )
  strandbooks | Feb 25, 2018 |
Whenever people have to make a choice, “Choice Architecture” is unavoidable. Whether to have a default option, the sequence of options, the wording, etc. all affect the decision of users. The book argues that in choices where people are not familiar with the impact of their choice either because they must do so infrequently or because of the complexity of the choices, it behooves organizations (including government), to “nudge” people to make a choice that is in their best interest. ( )
  RLHorton | Feb 13, 2018 |
Disappointing, particularly given the pedigree of the authors. Simple concept (done better by others, by the way), coined phrase ("libertarian paternalism"?), people need, even want, to have their choices managed. Right. Overly simplified examples except for healthcare and investments, which they over complicated.

As I said, disappointing. ( )
  Razinha | May 23, 2017 |
This book is slow and I find the author demeaning. He isn't teaching about how to improve your skills, it is more about choice architecture. It itself, that could be interesting, but the author is 'nudging' the reader toward libertarian paternalism. He starts arguments with 'givens' that the reader is supposed to accept, and I couldn't accept them. He draws conclusions about medical care and retirement with his socio-political views that I don't agree with.

He talks down to the reader, it felt like a waste of time. I will not finish this book. ( )
  Nodosaurus | Apr 6, 2017 |
You should read this book because most readers rated it highly, and because, if you don't, you'll miss out on a lot of strategic tips that could advance your career and personal happiness. That sentence demonstrates two of many nudge techniques Thaler and Sunstein share for influencing personal and public-policy decisions. The book is founded on the same two-systems framework that Kahneman revealed in Thinking Fast and Slow. If our lizard brain can be fooled in ways that our rational brain would support, why not use that to our advantage? ( )
  jpsnow | Nov 29, 2016 |
Even better than "Thinking, Fast and Slow" !!! ( )
  mantvius | Aug 29, 2016 |
Good explanation of behavioural economics and how these principles have been applied in various public sector enterprises. A big focus on libertarian paternalism and a perspective I associate with 'economists' meant that many of the philosophical justifications read a great deal like 'only in America'. ( )
  brakketh | Jul 17, 2016 |
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