Nudge by Thaler & Sunstein

Review by Donald Clark

Caused a bit of a fuss among policy-makers, and it certainly opens up an interesting debate on how one makes things happen in health, wealth and other human affairs. Whether it delivers the answers is another question.

The biggest problem with this book is the central concept. The very idea of a ‘nudge’ is so broad that it almost loses meaning. Their examples include everything from policy statements, laws, even TV ads and slogans. Nudges seem to be a huge range of simple messages and feedback mechanisms.

This simply puts decision-making into the marketing sphere, where everything is fought out in the arena of the media and messages. The common battleground becomes marketing, advertising and lobbying, leaving powerful cash-rich, tobacco companies, oil companies and banks clear to do what they do well – sell; often at the expense of people and the planet. This libertarian, business-like philosophy is very American. It’s a libertarian view taken to extremes.

Nudges are interesting

To be fair, nudges, such as the idea of placing the image of a fly in airport urinals to reduce spillage is wonderful. The idea that carbon units and trading will change behaviour is another cute observation. Their suggestion is that we put straight cash feedback mechanisms into our cars and utility meters, so that we become aware of how much money and resources we can save.

There are many instances when the heavy hand of legislation and government policy exacerbates rather than helps solve problems. Their appeal to look for nudges before spending large sums on large initiatives is heartening. In my book this means taking sales and marketing seriously in the public sector. Where the book scores is in giving a complex set of techniques a simple name. It forces you into thinking about how to change behaviour without automatically defaulting into compulsion.

US-centric

The book is also astonishingly US centric. It is as if no other country or political system exists. This extends into the very language and beliefs of the authors. They talk of the American Dream, as if it were an unambiguous reality. Like most Americas, they really do trust business and mistrust government. In Europe, we tend to trust government and mistrust business. They state they are neither Democrats nor Republicans, and that simple statement shows the problem. The rest of the world doesn’t see the world in these terms, as both are narrow, libertarian worldviews.

The basic problem is, that these guys, although academics, are actually lawyers. This becomes clear when they role out retreads of well known psychological studies going back to the thirties. They don’t have enough psychology or conceptual clarity to really prove their case, only case studies. This is not proof enough.

Nudges fall short

It is not clear that, for example, the problem of smoking, is best served by ‘nudging’ people into not smoking. Banning smoking in bars restaurants and public spaces seems to have worked. I’m not seeing countries reversing their legislation.

Their environmental thoughts are weak and downright barmy. They mention the success in halting the destruction of the ozone layer, but this only came through strict legislation banning the use of the ozone depleting chemicals that caused the damage. Hardly a nudge.

In an age of climate change, diminishing resources, natural disasters and financial turmoil, they seem like lost souls stuck in a hopelessly utopian, libertarian, American Dream world.

Nudges and learning

What is useful are the lessons to be learnt about the marketing of learning and e-learning to learners. The book does have some useful ideas that could be taken across into the learning world.