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I wonder if the problem with "nudge" is that for publicity reasons, people only call it a nudge if it sounds like a tiny thing that doesn't sound like it would
by vintermann 4y ago
I wonder if the problem with "nudge" is that for publicity reasons, people only call it a nudge if it sounds like a tiny thing that doesn't sound like it would work. If it's an obvious intervention, such as a default option in a pension form, or higher prices on tobacco, or condom vending machines in hotel restrooms, they don't call it a nudge anymore.
And I also have the feeling some of these may be babies that the Economist's editors would like to throw out with the bathwater.
- t_mann 4y agoDefault options in forms are the standard example of a nudge, a tax however is definitely not a nudge, the article actually explicitly says so.
- vintermann 4y agoIn that big meta study that questioned the efficiency of nudges, it was said in the discussion on HN that they excluded default options from the definition of nudges. Either way, the line seems arbitrary to me, and it's part of why I think they're moving the goalposts.
- t_mann 4y agoI don't know what people on HN said, but it's the first example of nudges of you look here (and pretty much anywhere else): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_theory#Types_of_nudges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_theory#Types_of_nudges
- vintermann 4y agoThe article in question was "No evidence for nudging after adjusting for publication bias". That study apparently counted default choices on forms as "structural interventions" - a term wide enough to usually include immunisation programs and taxes.
- simonh 4y agoI don't follow. The Economist's editors aren't the ones deciding what is or isn't counted as a nudge in the academic literature.
- vintermann 4y agoThe headline doesn't say nudges. It says behavioural interventions. (and as far as I can tell, the academic literature isn't consistent on what counts as a nudge or not)
- simonh 4y agoNudges are behavioural interventions. It's just a headline.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoNudges are basically the opposite of dark patterns. If a headline seems dubious when you swap the two then it's probably got an agenda. "Dark Patterns don't work anyway, so we should carry on using them" vs "Nudges don't work anyway, we should stop using them" https://www.simpleusability.com/inspiration/2019/03/dark-patterns-when-a-nudge-becomes-a-shove/ https://www.simpleusability.com/inspiration/2019/03/dark-pat...
- MichaelCollins 4y agoNudge does seem to imply some degree subtlety. In a colloquial sense, >100% tax rates on cigarettes is more of a shove than a nudge.
- throwaway0a5e 4y agoPretty much every policy stick short of a bullet seems to be sailing under the flag of a nudge these days.
- gmac 4y agoAbsolutely: the definition of a nudge (Thaler and Sunstein’s “libertarian paternalism”) was meant to include that it is cheap and easy to avoid, and therefore makes no difference to the (mythical) fully rational consumer. Taxes or other price interventions absolutely do not qualify.