Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and HappinessA New York Times bestseller with more than 1.5 million copies sold Named a Best Book of the Year by the Economist and the Financial Times “An essential read . . . loaded with good ideas that financial-service executives, policy makers, Wall Street mavens, and all savers can use.”—John F. Wasik, Boston Globe “Save the planet, save yourself. Do-gooders, policymakers, this one's for you.”—Newsweek 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. |
From inside the book
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... significantly burdened . If people want to smoke cigarettes , to eat a lot of candy , to choose an unsuitable health care plan , or to fail to save for retirement , lib- ertarian paternalists will not force them to do otherwise — or ...
... significantly changing their economic incentives. To count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid. Nudges are not mandates. Putting the fruit at eye level counts as a nudge. Banning junk food does not. Many of ...
... significantly alters the behavior of Humans, even though it would be ignored by Econs. Econs respond primarily to incentives. If the government taxes candy, they will buy less candy, but they are not in- fluenced by such “irrelevant ...
... significantly better than their overall shooting percentage in the contest, 53.9 percent. Of course, it is no great problem if basketball fans are confused about what they see when they are watching games on television. But the same ...
... significantly, the overwhelming majority of smokers say that they would like to quit. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Many people never get around to joining their company's retire- ment savings plan, even when ...
Contents
2 | |
6 | |
17 | |
40 | |
53 | |
When Do We Need a Nudge? | 72 |
Choice Architecture | 81 |
MONEY | 93 |
Smorgasbord Style | 145 |
Part D for Daunting | 159 |
How to Increase Organ Donations | 175 |
Saving the Planet | 183 |
Improving School Choices | 199 |
Should Patients Be Forced to Buy Lottery Tickets? | 207 |
Privatizing Marriage | 215 |
PART V | 227 |
Save More Tomorrow | 103 |
Naïve Investing | 118 |
Credit Markets | 132 |
Objections | 236 |
The Real Third Way | 252 |
Other editions - View all
Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness Richard H. Thaler No preview available - 2008 |