Canadian Government Executive - Volume 23 - Issue 1

A s understanding of social behaviour in- creases through intensified research, many government executives are learn- ing about the art of nudging. Govern- ments are establishing nudge units to encourage the citizenry to adopt desired behaviours and, less formally, ministries are trying other routes than laws and regulations to get results. You might well be a nudge artist today. You are more likely to be one in the future. “Nudges steer people in particular directions but also allow them to go their own way,” Cass Sunstein, a professor at Harvard University, former adminis- trator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and co-author of Nudge: Improv- ing Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, writes in his latest book. “A reminder is a nudge; so is a warning. A GPS device nudges, a default rule nudges. Disclosure of relevant information (about the risks of smoking or the costs of borrowing) counts as a nudge. A recom- mendation is a nudge.” More specifically, he notes you can nudge through: • Disclosure of factual information about caloric content in foods; • Simplifying applications for job training or finan- cial aid; • Warnings on cigarette packages; • Reminders of bills that are about to become due or of the availability of benefits; • Increasing ease and convenience on a web site or in an airport; • Personalizing information sent to recipients, such as offering an individual appointment time; • Timing your messages better so they arrive when they will get more attention; • Making potential benefits very clear to those who might enjoy them – increasing the salience of in- formation. He notes that nudges can have substantial impact. In Denmark, automatic enrolment in retirement plans has a much larger effect than substantial tax incentives. “It is worth pausing over this remark- able finding. A mere shift in the default rule, from opt-in to opt-out, has a much bigger impact than giving people real money to encourage them to opt in,” he says. In the U.S., simplifying financial aid forms for college students had as large an effect in promot- ing college attendance as a several thousand dollar increase in financial aid. A little simplification can go a long way. At a university in Sweden, switching the default setting on printers from single-sided to double-sid- ed produced a 15 per cent decrease in the use of pa- per. In the U.S, efforts to inform consumers about how their energy use compares to neighbours had the same impact reducing energy use as a large spike – 8 to 20 per cent – in the cost of electricity. But if you’re starting to think nudge, Sunstein wants you to also think ethics. You’re moving into an area some might consider sleight of hand and while tempting it could also edge you into unethi- cal behaviour. That’s the focus of the new book: The Ethics of Influence: Government in the Age of Behav- ioral Science. He says the ethical considerations can revolve around whether the nudges promote or undermine people’s welfare, autonomy, dignity, and self-gov- ernment. In ordinary life we have a duty to warn people who are at serious risk and the same ap- plies to government. If it fails to nudge it could be not living up to its ethical obligation. Disclosure of information about the nutritional content of foods promotes both welfare and autonomy. Automatic voter registration promotes self-government while the various laws some U.S. states have employed to nudge people not to vote limit self-government. On the other hand, nudges are manipulative. But that may not necessarily be bad. He argues an action does not count as manipulative merely be- cause it is an effort to influence another person’s behaviour. Romantic partners will sometimes ma- nipulate each other and they accept that as fine at times, even fun. “A calorie label and an energy ef- ficiency label are classic nudges, but they are not ordinarily counted as forms of manipulation. So long as a private or public institution is inform- ing people, or ‘just providing the facts,’ it is hard to complain of manipulation. There is also a large The Leader’s Bookshelf Harvey Schachter The Ethic of Nudging The Ethics of Influence By Cass Sunstein Cambridge University Press, 224 pages, $33.95 24 / Canadian Government Executive // January 2017