Thursday, October 12, 2017

Noah Smith defends Richard Thaler

Defending Thaler from guerilla resistance But I keep getting this doubt expressed in one of the comments:
"Aren’t nudge advocates forgetting the minor detail that, given that governments (and nudge units) are made of people, they, very much as the people they want to nudge, are not immune to biases in the first place? Who will nudge the nudgers?"
P.S. some articles from Australia Articles on Nudhe Unit The most recent article in the series 
Government behavioural economics ‘nudge unit’ needs a shove in a new direction

4 comments:

Tabula Rasa said...

I don't think they are forgetting that at all! It is one of the fundamental building blocks of the nudging philosophy, that choice architecture is a set of decisions, and even deciding to not do anything about it is a decision in itself. Once you acknowledge that, and you decide what the intended purpose of your nudge is, you can create the choice architecture for the decision-maker in a given situation accordingly. As the choice architect you have to be aware of your biases, but you also have to be aware that you are designing the choice for the decision-maker, not for yourself. So it is critical to put yourself in the shoes of the decision-maker and understand their perspective and the incentives they face.

Tabula Rasa said...

PS. Having developed and taught a Masters-level course on behavioral economics, I get a little carried away when I see misconceptions like the above one :-)

gaddeswarup said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
gaddeswarup said...

More from some practioners https://theconversation.com/au/topics/nudge-unit-5554