Search results for: “nudge”
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Improving Public Policy Through Testing
David Halpern is an interesting character. Originally an advisor to Tony Blair’s Labour government he went on to establish the U.K.’s Behavioural Insights for David Cameron’s Conservative government. His CV makes sense to me given what he specializes in. His aim is to make government policy better. The politicians decide what should be done and Halpern tries to ensure it…
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Reduce Sludge In Your Organization
In this post, and the next, I will highlight some important ideas from The Behaviourally Informed Organization. (It is Canadian — this is not just me reverting to UK spelling). The first point I want to touch upon are the barriers that hinder people from taking the actions you want them to take. Such barriers…
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Optimal Distinctiveness And Social Influence
Jonah Berger’s Invisible Influence is in the tradition of informative marketing books based upon behavioral research, think Dan Ariely, Sheena Iyengar, or Chip Heath. He concentrates on optimal distinctiveness and social influence. Some of the details people may know from elsewhere but all of which are interesting. Optimal Distinctiveness And Social Influence One of the…
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The Problem Of Noise
Three major names in the field of decision-making teamed up to write about the problem of noise. Daniel Kahneman, who won the Nobel prize in economics despite not being an economist, Oliver Sibony, apparently a knight in the French Order of the Légion d’Honneur, and Cass Sunstein of Barack Obama’s White House and Nudge fame,…
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IRS Agents Deserve Our Thanks
The USA has a history of not liking taxation much. There are plenty of reasons not to like the way the US does its taxation. US taxes appear complex, unnecessarily time consuming, and occasionally a bit random. And that is without considering the more controversial issue of whether they are ‘fair’. The US government, and…
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Improving Forecasting
Philip Tetlock’s book on expert political judgment was a classic. That said, he clearly thinks that the message taken from that book was too strong. Previously he suggested that experts just aren’t that good at forecasting. He still retains that theme in his new work — but now he is more interested in improving forecasting. Improving Forecasting…
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Laziness Is A Sustainable Resource
People can be lazy. We often don’t find out all information relevant to the decision we are making. It is hard work to find information. Our decisions based upon limited information can lead to personally or environmentally destructive outcomes. People wouldn’t make these decisions if they thought a little harder. This is a problem. What…
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Systems Matter In Sustainability
Donella Meadows was the lead author on The Limits To Growth, a highly influential book in the world of sustainability. I am not a huge fan of that book, as I worried the book was over-ambitious in its conclusions which may have helped creating a panic about population. The danger being that some nasty bigoted…
