Nudge by Cass Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler
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A controversial book based on the not-very-controversial idea that the design of choice architectures and background variables can influence people’s choices even without a significant change in incentives. For instance, changing the order of items on the menu in a cafeteria affects what kind of food students buy. The next step? Responsible choice architects try to design choice architectures to steer, or “nudge”, people’s choices in more socially beneficial directions. “Nudge” expands on the idea that Sunstein and Thaler described in the paper libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron. Sunstein and Thaler blog on themes related to the book here. See also this event on the book organized by the Cato Institute, a review by Adam Thierer on the Tech Liberation Front blog here, and a review by Will Wilkinson that appeared in Reason magazine.
