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NUDGE

                                                    September 6, 2025

Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein "Nudge" (2008)
                                                       A book I refer to
A book that argues that when an outright               occassionally, so
prohibition on something that's likely a poor          I thought it long
individual choice may well be rejected as an           past time for a
excessive infringment on freedom, it is still          summary here.
possible to do a lot of social good but making
an attempt at giving people a "nudge" toward
doing the right thing.
                                                          I believe I originally
A sin tax that adds a small additional cost,              heard of it when
a restriction on advertising that makes the               referred to by
wrong choice harder to find, a subsidy on                 Kahneman's "Thinking,
making the right choice... anything like that             Fast and Slow" (2011)
can increase the numbers of people living
better lives without bringing the force of                FAST_SLOW_AND_SLOWER
law against people who really want to go
what we suspect is the wrong way.


   This is an insight might persuade as a reasonable
   compromise, but it still leaves me with some doubts
   about how well it can be done-- you need a philosopher
   king, or at least a parliament of owls-- to get this
   approach right, and we seem further away all the time.



     "A choice architect has the responsibility for organizing the
      context in which people make decisions.  ...  There are many
      parallels between choice architecture and more traditional
      forms of architecture.  A critical parallel is there is no such
      thing as a 'neutral' design. ... As good architects know,
      seemingly arbitrary decisions, such as where to locate the
      bathrooms, will have subtle influences on how the people who
      use the building interact."




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