FolioStart free

Economics · Literature

Research papers on Nudges and behavioral economics

Recent and highly-cited academic work on nudges and behavioral economics, gathered from Semantic Scholar, CrossRef and OpenAlex.

Search all 200M+ papers on this topic, free →Or track new nudges and behavioral economics papers automatically as they publish

  1. Nudging and Boosting: Steering or Empowering Good Decisions

    Ralph Hertwig, Till Grüne‐Yanoff · 2017 · Perspectives on Psychological Science · 839 citations

    In recent years, policy makers worldwide have begun to acknowledge the potential value of insights from psychology and behavioral economics into how people make decisions. These insights can inform the design of nonregulatory and nonmonetary policy interventions-as well as more traditional fiscal and coercive measures. To date, much of the discussion of behaviorally informed approaches has emphasized "nudges," that is, interventions designed to steer people in a particular direction while preserving their freedom of choice. Yet behavioral science also provides support for a distinct kind of nonfiscal and noncoercive intervention, namely, "boosts." The objective of boosts is to foster people'

    Save this paper

  2. Should Governments Invest More in Nudging?

    Shlomo Benartzi, John Beshears, Katherine L. Milkman, et al. · 2017 · Psychological Science · 811 citations

    Governments are increasingly adopting behavioral science techniques for changing individual behavior in pursuit of policy objectives. The types of "nudge" interventions that governments are now adopting alter people's decisions without coercion or significant changes to economic incentives. We calculated ratios of impact to cost for nudge interventions and for traditional policy tools, such as tax incentives and other financial inducements, and we found that nudge interventions often compare favorably with traditional interventions. We conclude that nudging is a valuable approach that should be used more often in conjunction with traditional policies, but more calculations are needed to dete

    Save this paper

  3. Nudging: A Very Short Guide

    Cass R. Sunstein · 2014 · Journal of Consumer Policy · 790 citations

    This brief essay offers a general introduction to the idea of nudging, along with a list of 10 of the most important “nudges.” It also provides a short discussion of the question whether to create some kind of separate “behavioral insights unit,” capable of conducting its own research, or instead to rely on existing institutions.

    Save this paper

  4. Nudge and the Manipulation of Choice

    Pelle Guldborg Hansen, Andreas Maaløe Jespersen · 2013 · European Journal of Risk Regulation · 776 citations

    In Nudge (2008) Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein suggested that public policy–makers arrange decision–making contexts in ways to promote behaviour change in the interest of individual citizens as well as that of society. However, in the public sphere and Academia alike widespread discussions have appeared concerning the public acceptability of nudgebased behavioural policy. Thaler and Sunstein's own position is that the anti–nudge position is a literal non–starter, because citizens are always influenced by the decision making context anyway, and nudging is liberty preserving and acceptable if guided by Libertarian Paternalism and Rawls’ publicity principle. A persistent and central tenet in

    Save this paper

  5. The effectiveness of nudging: A meta-analysis of choice architecture interventions across behavioral domains

    Stéphanie Mertens, Mario Herberz, Ulf J.J. Hahnel, et al. · 2021 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 729 citations

    = 0.45 (95% CI [0.39, 0.52]). In addition, we find that the effectiveness of choice architecture interventions varies significantly as a function of technique and domain. Across behavioral domains, interventions that target the organization and structure of choice alternatives (decision structure) consistently outperform interventions that focus on the description of alternatives (decision information) or the reinforcement of behavioral intentions (decision assistance). Food choices are particularly responsive to choice architecture interventions, with effect sizes up to 2.5 times larger than those in other behavioral domains. Overall, choice architecture interventions affect behavior relati

    Save this paper

  6. Judging nudging: can nudging improve population health?

    Theresa M. Marteau, David Ogilvie, Martín Roland, et al. · 2011 · BMJ · 644 citations

    Nudging has captured the imagination of the public, researchers, and policy makers as a way of changing human behaviour, with both the UK and US governments embracing it. Theresa Marteau and colleagues ask whether the concept stands up to scientific scrutiny

    Save this paper

  7. Nudging consumers towards healthier choices: a systematic review of positional influences on food choice

    Tamara Bucher, Clare E. Collins, Megan E. Rollo, et al. · 2016 · British Journal Of Nutrition · 538 citations

    Nudging or 'choice architecture' refers to strategic changes in the environment that are anticipated to alter people's behaviour in a predictable way, without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. Nudging strategies may be used to promote healthy eating behaviour. However, to date, the scientific evidence has not been systematically reviewed to enable practitioners and policymakers to implement, or argue for the implementation of, specific measures to support nudging strategies. This systematic review investigated the effect of positional changes of food placement on food choice. In total, seven scientific databases were searched using relevant keywords

    Save this paper

  8. Digital Nudging

    Markus Weinmann, Christoph Schneider, Jan vom Brocke · 2016 · Business & Information Systems Engineering · 527 citations

    Nudging, Information systems design, Human–computer interaction, Online choice architecture

    Save this paper

  9. Nudges for Privacy and Security

    Alessandro Acquisti, Idris Adjerid, Rebecca Balebako, et al. · 2017 · ACM Computing Surveys · 514 citations

    Advancements in information technology often task users with complex and consequential privacy and security decisions. A growing body of research has investigated individuals’ choices in the presence of privacy and information security tradeoffs, the decision-making hurdles affecting those choices, and ways to mitigate such hurdles. This article provides a multi-disciplinary assessment of the literature pertaining to privacy and security decision making. It focuses on research on assisting individuals’ privacy and security choices with soft paternalistic interventions that nudge users toward more beneficial choices. The article discusses potential benefits of those interventions, highlights

    Save this paper

  10. 23 Ways to Nudge

    Ana Caraban, Evangelos Karapanos, Daniel Gonçalves, et al. · 2019 · 470 citations

    Ten years ago, Thaler and Sunstein introduced the notion of nudging to talk about how subtle changes in the 'choice architecture' can alter people's behaviors in predictable ways. This idea was eagerly adopted in HCI and applied in multiple contexts, including health, sustainability and privacy. Despite this, we still lack an understanding of how to design effective technology-mediated nudges. In this paper we present a systematic review of the use of nudging in HCI research with the goal of laying out the design space of technology-mediated nudging - the why (i.e., which cognitive biases do nudges combat) and the how (i.e., what exact mechanisms do nudges employ to incur behavior change). A

    Save this paper

  14. Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture

    Emma Anderson, Ruobin Wei, Binkai Liu, et al. · 2021 · Frontiers in Nutrition · 36 citations

    Low diet quality is a significant public health problem in the United States, especially among low-income populations. The food environment influences dietary choices. When applied to eating behavior, behavioral economics (BE) recognizes that decision biases instigated by a food environment saturated with unhealthy foods may lead people to purchase such foods, even when they possess the necessary information and skills to make healthy dietary choices. Choice architecture, a BE concept that involves modifying the appeal or availability of choices to “nudge” people toward a certain choice, retains freedom of choice but makes unhealthy options less convenient or visible. Choice architecture has

    Save this paper

  20. Healthy choice architecture in the supermarket: Does it work?

    A. Thorndike · 2020 · Social science & medicine · 13 citations

    Improving dietary quality of supermarket purchases could help reduce obesity and chronic diseases worldwide. In the past decade, there has been increasing academic interest in using behavioral economics strategies, primarily choice architecture, to "nudge" shoppers to make healthier purchases in supermarkets. In a recent study, Young et al. collaborated with a supermarket retailer to test the impact of prominent shelf placement on the sales of healthier breakfast cereals. This well-designed, 12-week product placement intervention did not increase sales of the healthier products. Does this mean healthy supermarket choice architecture does not work? Shelf placement interventions may not be abl

    Save this paper

  22. Effects of Behavioral Economics–Based Messaging on Appointment Scheduling Through Patient Portals and Appointment Completion: Observational Study

    S. Liang, C. Stults, V. Jones, et al. · 2021 · JMIR Human Factors · 8 citations

    Background Behavioral economics–based techniques have been an increasingly utilized method in health care to influence behavior change by modifying language in patient communication (through choice architecture and the framing of words). Patient portals are a key tool for facilitating patient engagement in their health, and interventions deployed via patient portals have been effective in improving utilization of preventive health services. Objective We examined the impacts of behavioral economics–based nudge health maintenance reminders on appointment scheduling through a patient portal and appointment completion for 2 preventive services: Medicare wellness visits and Pap smear. Methods We

    Save this paper

  24. Choice Architecture and the Potential to Nudge Career Development at Scale

    R. Lent · 2024 · Journal of Career Assessment · 5 citations

    Choice architecture refers to features of the psychological, social, and physical environment that can affect the process and outcome of human decisions. With roots in cognitive psychology and behavioral economics, it has become a fertile topic of inquiry in a wide range of behavioral domains. Thaler and Sunstein (2008) popularized choice architecture and its concept of nudges, which are small environmental adjustments that can facilitate behavioral choices without limiting personal autonomy. Nudge interventions have been studied intensely in relation to health, financial, ecological, and consumer outcomes. In this article, I consider how the strategic use of digital nudges might be used in

    Save this paper

Write your paper with these sources

Folio is the integrity-first research workspace: search 200M+ papers, save sources, and write with citations that format themselves. Free for students and researchers.

Start writing free →