The Choice Architecture of Choice Architecture: Toward a Non-paternalistic Nudge Policy

David Colander and Andrew Qi Lin Chong

Middlebury College Working Paper Series from Middlebury College, Department of Economics

Abstract: The paper seeks to recast the goal of nudge policy from a goal of achieving a specific result determined by government or by behavioral economists to a goal of giving individuals as much power as is practical to decide the choice architecture they face. We call a nudge with such a giving individuals “power over choice mechanisms” goal a non-paternalistic nudge policy. The goal of non-paternalistic nudge policy is not to achieve a better result as seen by government or by behavioral economists. The goal of non-paternalistic nudge policy is to achieve a better result as seen by the agents being nudged as revealed through their choices of choice architectures. We argue that non-paternalistic nudge policy fits much better with the values inherent in Classical liberalism than does libertarian paternalistic nudge policy.

Keywords: libertarian; paternalism; nudge policy; choice architecture; behavioral economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D02 D60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 10 pages
Date: 2010-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://www.middlebury.edu/services/econ/repec/mdl/ancoec/1036.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Choice Architecture of Choice Architecture: Toward a Non-Paternalistic Nudge Policy (2010)
Working Paper: The Choice Architecture of Choice Architecture: Toward a Nonpaternalistic Nudge Policy (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:1036

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