scholarly journals BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICIES: SOME INTRODUCTORY ISSUES

2021 ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Mojašević
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Behavioural Economics ◽  
Libertarian Paternalism ◽  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
The Third ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Behavioural Insights ◽  
Basic Concepts

The paper aims to inform the domestic public about the basic concepts of behavioural economics, its historical development and intellectual basis, the application of its findings in policymaking, and its effectiveness in current practical application. In the first part of the paper, the author presents the basic concepts of behavioural economics: the nudge, the choice architecture, the libertarian paternalism, cognitive biases, and others. The second part of the paper provides a concise overview of the critiques directed at behavioural economics and libertarian paternalism (Posner's critique, Mitchell's critique), and a review of the empirical validity of certain behavioural economics phenomena. The third part presents the use of behavioural findings to inform the design of public policy in different domains (the behavioural public policy), along with numerous examples, mostly from the practice of the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom.

scholarly journals Criticism Of Behavioural Economics: Attacks Towards Ideology, Evidence And Practical Application

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 32-46
Author(s):  
Līga Pūce
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Behavioural Economics ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
General Validity ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Ideological Criticism ◽  
Rational Behaviour

During the last few decades the field of behavioural economics has been forming incorporating insights from psychology in economics. Behavioural economics has been growing and gaining increasing importance both as an academic discipline and a practically applicable approach suggesting the use of nudging technique. However, rise of the field is accompanied with criticism towards the field. This study explores the existing criticism of behavioural economics: summarizes, structures, offers brief analysis of the criticism and some possible responses. Ideological criticism, evidence suspicious criticism and criticism concerning practical application of behavioural economics in public policy by nudging has been covered. An overview of the criticism has been presented. According to the analysis substantial part of the criticism towards behavioural economics does not endanger general validity and significance of the field. This refers to criticism addressed towards field-specific characteristics, which are logical at the stage of the development, criticism towards “bad behavioural economics” or simply week criticism. Though, several issues raised against behavioural economics require careful further investigation and improvements. Most notably, further studies regarding different aspects of perception of what is rational behaviour, evidence suspicious approach regarding possibly overstated research results, and development of a clear framework for usage of nudges in public policy would be of value. The present study is contextual, based on literature review, and attempts to add value by offering an analytical overv

scholarly journals Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Measuring What Matters

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Musikanski ◽  
Carl Polley
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
The Third ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Economic Paradigm

This essay focuses on ways in which the governments of Bhutan and the United Kingdom are measuring subjective well-being as well as on how other governments including Norway, Spain, China, Canada, and New Zealand, are exploring the development of subjective well-being indicators. It concludes with recommended actions to aid in the formation of a consistent and comparable subjective well-being indicator for use by governments globally. The third in a series for which the purpose is to provide information to grassroots activists to foster the happiness movement for a new economic paradigm, this essay builds on the previous essays, Happiness in Public Policy and Measuring Happiness to Guide Public Policy: A Survey of Instruments and Policy Initiatives.

Libertarian Paternalism, Externalities, and the “Spirit of Liberty”: How Thaler and Sunstein Are Nudging Us toward an “Overlapping Consensus”. Richard H. Thaler, and Cass R. Sunstein. 2008 . Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Pp. x + 293. $26.00 cloth.

2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (01) ◽  
pp. 263-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuj C. Desai
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Libertarian Paternalism ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Overlapping Consensus ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Cass Sunstein

In their 2008 bookNudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein use research from psychology and behavioral economics to argue that people suffer from systematic cognitive biases. They propose that policy makers mitigate these biases by framing people's choices in ways that help people act in their own self‐interest. Thaler and Sunstein call this approach “libertarian paternalism,” and they market it as “the Real Third Way.” In this essay, I argue that the book is a brilliant contribution to thinking about policy making but that “choice architecture” is not just a solution to the problem of cognitive biases. Rather, it is a means of approaching any kind of policy making. I further argue that policy makers must take externalities into account, even when using choice architecture. Finally, I argue that libertarian paternalism can best be seen as motivated by what Sunstein has celebrated in his work on constitutional theory: a humility about the possibility of policy‐maker error embodied in Learned Hand's famous aphorism about the “spirit of liberty” and an attempt to reduce social conflicts by searching for what John Rawls called an “overlapping consensus.”

Research Applications

1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 709-715
Author(s):  
M. J. Rouse
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Contract Research ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
The Uk

This paper covers the approach taken by WRc to the practical application of research results. WRc works on an annual programme of research paid for collectively by the UK water utilities totalling ₤15m. In addition contract research is carried out for government largely on environmental matters and for utilities and others on a confidential basis. The approach to the implementation described here deals with the application of results across the whole of the United Kingdom where there are a large number of users of the results but with varying degrees of interest in any particular topic. The requirement is to inform all of the outcome of the work and then to provide the facility of rapid implementation for those who have an immediate requirement to apply the new knowledge and technology.

The Idea–Expression Dichotomy and its Role in Software-Related Disputes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noam Shemtov
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
European Union ◽  
Software Industry ◽  
Copyright Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Software Products ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Software Copyright

This chapter examines the idea-expression dichotomy principle and its application in dealing with software copyright infringement disputes. More specifically, it asks to what extent access to ideas or information embedded in the author’s work, as well as the freedom to utilize them, is justified as a matter of copyright law jurisprudence. The chapter first traces the origins of the idea-expression dichotomy and the key milestones in its development, before discussing the arguments for and against it. It also analyses the application of the idea-expression dichotomy in software-related disputes in the United Kingdom, European Union, and United States, with particular focus on functional aspects of software products and services. Finally, it looks at the public policy considerations that stand at the heart of the idea-expression dichotomy principle and their relevance to the software-industry context.

scholarly journals Nudge Versus Boost: Agency Dynamics Under Libertarian Paternalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 130 (629) ◽  
pp. 1384-1415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Hertwig ◽  
Michael D Ryall
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Libertarian Paternalism ◽  
The Future ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACT Thaler and Sunstein (2008) advance the concept of ‘nudge’ policies—non-regulatory and non-fiscal mechanisms designed to enlist people's cognitive biases or motivational deficits so as to guide their behaviour in a desired direction. A core assumption of this approach is that policymakers make artful use of people's cognitive biases and motivational deficits in ways that serve the ultimate interests of the nudged individual. We analyse a model of dynamic policymaking in which the policymaker's preferences are not always aligned with those of the individual. One novelty of our set-up is that the policymaker has the option to implement a ‘boost’ policy, equipping the individual with the competence to overcome the nudge-enabling bias once and for all. Our main result identifies conditions under which the policymaker chooses not to boost in order to preserve the option of using the nudge (and its associated bias) in the future—even though boosting is in the immediate best interests of both the policymaker and the individual. We extend our analysis to situations in which the policymaker can be removed (e.g., through an election) and in which the policymaker is similarly prone to bias. We conclude with a discussion of some policy implications of these findings.

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