How 'nudge' happened: the political economy of nudging in the UK

Stuart Mills and Richard Whittle

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The UK Behavioural Insights Team transformed nudging and behavioural economics from nascent ideas to key policy tools for the UK Coalition Government. This article argues that political economic circumstances significantly contributed to the success of this ‘nudge’ programme. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) created a ‘contest of authority’ over dominant policy approaches. By framing the crisis as a crisis of rationality, behavioural perspectives gained political support. The GFC also saw that the UK Government (from 2010) adopt a programme of fiscal austerity. Nudging complemented this programme by suggesting effective policy could be made cheaply. Using various accounts of nudging in the UK from those involved in its development, we demonstrate the role of the country’s political economy in the behavioural turn. We conclude by reflecting on the role of behavioural insights today, given a political–economic landscape much changed since 2010.

Keywords: austerity; behavioural economics; nudge; political economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D90 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2025-01-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hme, nep-nud, nep-pol and nep-reg
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Cambridge Journal of Economics, 31, January, 2025, 49(1), pp. 1-18. ISSN: 0309-166X

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:126042

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