Nudge

Every day we make decisions on topics ranging from the personal investments we select to the schools we pick for our children to the foods we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, as authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein astutely observe, we don't always choose well. The reason, the authors explain, is that we all are susceptible to cognitive biases and blunders that make us human, fallible, and prone to error.Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that recognizes our humanness as a given. They show that the way we think can be used to our advantage: it is possible to design environments that make it more likely for us to act in our own interests. Using colourful examples from all aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how 'choice architecture' can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting the full menu of choices available to us. Nudge offers a unique new take, from neither the left nor the right, on many current issues, and is one of the most engaging and provocative books to come along in years.

ISBN 0300122233   Pages 224 ISBN13 9780300122237 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Yale University Press   Weight (grammes) 567 Imprint Yale University Press   Published in New Haven Format Hardback   Height (mm) 235 Publication date 13 May 2008   Width (mm) 156 Library of Congress 2007047528   Spine width (mm) 30 DEWEY 330.019   Academic level General, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22   Alternative ISBN 9781596592704

		Introduction		1
Pt. I		Humans and Econs
1		Biases and Blunders		17
2		Resisting Temptation		40
3		Following the Herd		53
4		When Do We Need a Nudge?		72
5		Choice Architecture		81
Pt. II		Money
6		Save More Tomorrow		103
7		Naive Investing		118
8		Credit Markets		132
9		Privatizing Social Security: Smorgasbord Style		145
Pt. III		Health
10		Prescription Drugs: Part D for Daunting		159
11		How to Increase Organ Donations		175
12		Saving the Planet		183
Pt. IV		Freedom
13		Improving School Choices		199
14		Should Patients Be Forced to Buy Lottery Tickets?		207
15		Privatizing Marriage		215
Pt. V		Extensions and Objections
16		A Dozen Nudges		229
17		Objections		236
18		The Real Third Way		252
		Notes		255
		Bibliography		263
		Index		283

"Two University of Chicago professors sketch a new approach to public policy that takes into account the odd realities of human behavior, like the deep and unthinking tendency to conform. Even in areas--like energy consumption--where conformity is irrelevant. Thaler has documented the ways people act illogically."--Barbara Kiviat, "Time"--Barbara Kiviat"Time" (04/03/2008)

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