Libertarian paternalism advert

The “nudge” part of the book could have taken less than 100 pages. Most of the content is advocacy for libertarian policies. Another example of a good idea to start with that gets ruined by people’s policial agendas.

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Nudge, fudge - think, think!

Taking an oxymoron as your starting point, the anticipated route would be explore the apparent contradictions and show that from the thesis and anti-thesis there can be a synthesis that is something greater than the original parts. At least that's how Carlo Marlowe had it.

In the first instance I’d have been re-assured to see any evidence whatsoever for the existence - let alone the validity - of ‘Libertarian Paternalism. Our recent history lurches from one corporate scandal to covert operations emanating from one state after another.

Their central posit (whilst following the American way of liberally making nouns with founding-father verbs of our common language) is the idea that it is both possible and legitimate for private and public institutions to affect behavior while also respecting freedom of choice, as well as the implementation of that idea. When and where did this ever happen?

And what follows then is the application of the term ‘Architect’ to those who write the questions on which algorithms are programmed. It is enough to know that this most modern of dating-site drivers, derives from the name of the mathematician, Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi, who was part of the royal court in Baghdad and who lived from about 780 to 850 to confirm that a ‘Choice Architect’ is simply a grandiose common-place and an affectation served to flatter those who see themselves as the subject of this treatise.

And who are these targets - Whitehall Mandarins, Central Bankers, State Department Heads.....well, er..no....Pension Plan administrators, School Admission administrators - functionaries rather than our commissaires .

Bureaucracies do not speak unto Power - Power is delivered through the minutiae of everyday life...that’s the big idea that’s missing from this work.

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1 person found this helpful

Please translate into International English!

This book has some fantastic concepts that really work. But I really struggled with parts that were overly American. It seems to be an American book for American people.

It would be wonderful to have it translated into English!

There are those of use who don't fully understand the American political system, American sports, the American education system, temperatures in Fahrenheit etc...

Using examples from around the world, or less location-specific (general) examples would make this book a full five star, best-seller.

It's worth perservering with. But's it's sometimes hard to decipher.

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2 people found this helpful

Interesting & useful concepts, but...

The basic premise behind this book is interesting, useful and practical. We could all do with more of a nudge. If you are in business understanding the concepts and ideas in this book will be invaluable...
However the really painfully detailed, lengthy accounts and examples that make up the bulk of this book ad-tedium feel like someone trying to pad out a book from of a few ideas.
Be prepared to hit the fast forward button for large parts of this book.

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How small changes in options leads to big effects.

Having read Thinking Fast and Slow I was excited to read this as a more practical guide to using some of the information contained in Kahneman's book. This book was published before Thinking Fast and Slow came out so some of the chapters go over Kahneman and Tversky's work so that the reader is familar with the concepts. Most of the book is discussing various case studies where Nudges in the form of "Libertarian Paternalism" creates what the authors see as favourable outcomes.

From small areas such as putting a fly on a urinal to reduce spillage by 90%, an advertising campaign to lowering rates of littering coining "Don't Mess with Texas" or increasing organ donation rate in a variety of countries the key takeaways are that choice architecture (how choices are presented) matter a lot more than they probably should, whether an opt in/opt out system is used, how the questions are asked, inertia in making the same decisions without thinking about them.

Just mentioning that the majority of people perform an action is enough to increase compliance in Tax Returns.

A key method is the RECAP: Record, Evaluate, and Compare Alternative Prices Report which would allow consumers to easily compare their current plan with alternatives, formatted to allow for direct comparison between a variety of companies. Private companies would also then easily be able to compare different plans based on your last year's usage data and alternative plans for everything from Phones to Medicaid.

Increasing the number of options isn't beneficial to most people as they don't want to spend the time weighing them up and would prefer to not choose if the option was available.

Libertarian Paternalism has gained a lot of bi partisan support in the USA as it doesn't prevent people from making their own choices, and even the most die hard of republicans find it hard to argue against businesses having to disclose more data.

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Good start but drifts a little

The concept of this book is very interesting and it starts well with some interesting ideas and good stories and examples, even if they are a little patronising and laboured in parts.

Nonetheless, it is quickly possible to see how this principle can be applied at work or even in ones own life to bring about improvements, and for this alone the book is well worth it.

However, a little over half way through it becomes bogged down in endless and excesive detail about american monetary policy and savings options, which becomes a little indigestible after a while.

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7 people found this helpful

Good content poorly presented & delivered

This book desperately needs re-recording. The narrators tone is unfortunately and most likely unintentionally condescending.

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Audio does not match the actual book

I read and listen at the same time as I make footnotes in the book so I can refer back to them at a later date. I have the 2009 edition of the book. I must presume that a later edition of the book is the audiobook as there were many parts in my book that weren't in the audio and vice versa.

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Heavily Padded

This is one of those books that could be condensed into a tenth of its size without loss or attenuation of the key messages. The book draws heavily on US systems such as medicare and other Federal Government data which frankly is almost irrelevant to non-American readers.

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Sleep

Nudge me when it gets to the end.Nudge me when it gets to the end

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