Nudging State, Noble Lies
August 4, 2021·29 comments·In Brief
Nudge is a book by Nobel prize-winning economist Dick Thaler and law professor Cass Sunstein, wherein they describe a system of “libertarian paternalism” for State-directed “choice architectures” to improve public policy outcomes by influencing our behavior through clever framing techniques.
To be clear, I'm not applying the word "paternalism" to their work. That's their word. Because that's what they think good government is, a father-knows-best apparatus where we unruly teenagers should be pushed and prodded into making better life choices.
In its most basic application, the nudge of "choice architecture" is literally a reframing of formal choices available to us children citizens. Want more organ donors? Why, just make organ donation an opt-out choice rather than an opt-in choice on driver's license applications. Just make organ donation the default choice, like it is in Austria, and voila! 90% of the population will "choose" to be organ donors. Want to eliminate the various tax and social advantages provided to married couples? Why, just strike the word "marriage" from federal and state laws entirely. Just replace marriage certificates with civil union certificates, and pretty soon people will "choose" civil unions over marriage. Again, I'm not imposing these examples on Thaler and Sunstein's framework. These are their examples.
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