An Analysis of Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein's Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness

by Mark Egan

When it was published in 2008, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness quickly became one of the most influential books in modern economics and politics. Within a short time, it had inspired whole government departments in the US and UK, and others as far afield as Singapore. One of the keys to Nudge’s success is Thaler and Sunstein’s ability to create a detailed and persuasive case for their take on economic decision-making. Nudge is not a book packed with original findings or data; instead it is a careful and systematic synthesis of decades of research into behavioral economics. The discipline challenges much conventional economic thought – which works on the basis that, overall, humans make rational decisions – by focusing instead on the ‘irrational’ cognitive biases that affect our decision making. These seemingly in-built biases mean that certain kinds of economic decision-making are predictably irrational. Thaler and Sunstein prove themselves experts at creating persuasive arguments and dealing effectively with counter-arguments. They conclude that if governments understand these cognitive biases, they can ‘nudge’ us into making better decisions for ourselves. Entertaining as well as smart, Nudge shows the full range of reasoning skills that go into making a persuasive argument.

96 pages, Hardcover

Published July 15, 2017

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decided to read this summary as I am not likely to read Nudge or other books related to it. My more academic reading ended years ago now.

Paternalistic libertarianism or or libertarian paternalism "came out" in 2008? Although this summary admits that the tactics have been used for decades, mostly for marketing purposes.

[Sarah Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very repetitive and it was hard to follow in some places, but seems a decent cliff notes version of the main text.