Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

In a great review in Slate, Dahlia Lithwick looks at Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Cass R. Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler.  The pair argue that we -- all of us, yes, you, too -- make a lot of foolish choices throughout out lives. We do this in large part because we are overly influenced by our non-logical "reptilian" parts of our brains. Like Homer Simpson, we binge on doughnuts even though we know without a doubt that such behavior is wildly unhealthy. 

Now, I have always been leery of government policy that tries to keep us from being responsible for our own choices.  I thought it was ridiculous, for example, that so many life insurers were sued when "interest sensitive" or stock-price-influenced products didn't do so well in a bear market. "We were duped, screamed the public.  "We didn't know taking on some risk was so risky! My agent lied to me."  Oblivious to the 20 pages of "watch out, there are risks" information that each policyholder had to read and sign before buying, politicians and lawyers rushed to reverse the logical consequences of these fully informed choices.  Hundreds of millions of dollars were paid out in class action settlements, most of the money of course going to lawyers.

And I hate having to pull off a thousand warning stickers from every consumer product.  "Warning, hitting yourself in the head with this hammer might cause injury."  Okay, I made that one up, but there really are asinine warnings on ladders (don't stand on the top step) and extension cords (don't use under water, don't plug in ten space heaters, etc.).

I can see that there are cases where protecting people from themselves does make sense. Seat belt laws.  Limits on payday lending that preys on the poorest and least educated among us. Controls on handguns.

The authors suggest that perhaps there are more of these situations than crusty old self-reliant types like me want to admit.  They argue that wise public policy driven by "choice architects" should gently guide us to make better selections in various aspects of our lives.  That's gently, mind you. No coercion, no doors knocked down in the middle on the night. No nagging, just a... nudge.

I'm still a bit suspicious of ceding so much influence to a new and unelected class of über-nags, but I plan to read this book. 

Or maybe I'll just get a box of doughnuts and watch cartoons.....