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14 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 829 (2016)
Two Cheers for Nudging

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Two Cheers for Nudging


                              WILLIAM ENGLISH*

                                  ABSTRACT
   The idea of nudging-presenting choices to people in a manner that biases
their responses towards socially desirable results-is viewed by some as the
basis of a new political theory of libertarian paternalism, while others have
interpreted it as a more limited technique for achieving policy goals. This paper
takes the latter view, suggesting that libertarian paternalism contributes little to
normative theory in the abstract, while nudging does make two distinctive
contributions to policy debates, although it also generates two specific ethical
concerns. The first main virtue of nudging is that it calls attention to
the cognitive costs of choice in a manner that can integrate with and inform
conventional cost/benefit policy analysis. It thus enables a more accurate
accounting of the tradeoffs involved in policy choices. The second virtue is that
nudges introduce new policy options that can strike a better balance between
competing ethical claims, even if the contours of the underlying ethical debates
remain unchanged. Yet, nudging does generate two distinctive ethical questions.
First, is there some general account of what constitutes impermissible manipula-
tion? Second, by countenancing a greater range of behavioral interventions by
the state, does nudging lower what James Q. Wilson called the legitimacy
barrier in ways that are politically dangerous?
  The idea of nudging-presenting choices to people in a manner that biases
their responses towards socially desirable results-has been interpreted in at
least two ways: as a broad political theory of libertarian paternalism and as a
more common sense strategy for improving policy design. It was Thaler and
Sunstein themselves who initially branded nudging as libertarian paternal-
ism.' On their view, this description was apt because nudging fundamentally
increases freedom. As they write: the libertarian aspect of our strategies lies in
the straightforward insistence that, in general, people should be free to do what
they like-and to opt out of undesirable arrangements if they want to do so.'2
However, nudging also aims to shape people's choices in service of some vision
of the good that they may not consciously share. Thus, its paternalistic charac-
ter, which lies in the claim that it is legitimate for choice architects to try to
influence people's behavior in order to make their lives longer, healthier, and
better.,3

  * Assistant Professor, Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy, McDonough School of
Business, Georgetown University. © 2016, William English.
  1. Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein, Libertarian Paternalism, 93 AM. ECON. REv. 175, 175-79
(2003).
  2. RICHARD H. THALER & CASS R. SUNSTEIN, NUDGE: IMPROVING DECISIONS ABOUT HEALTH, WEALTH, AND
HAPPINESS 5 (2008).
  3. Id.

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