Prof. Dr. Israel Waichman publishes data-based research on “nudging” in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

Professor of Economics Dr. Israel Waichman has published a new research article titled “Trading off autonomy and efficiency in choice architectures: Self-nudging versus social nudging” in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. The article is co-written with Johannes Diederich (University of Kassel) and Timo Goeschl (University of Heidelberg).

‘Nudging’ is defined in behavioral economics as a deliberate manipulation of “choice architecture,” and is one of the most recognized behavioral policy interventions. One form of nudging is ‘default decisions,’ which are particularly effective in changing behavior.

A social nudge is when a policy-maker (choice architect) considers the interest of the whole group instead of a particular individual. While social nudges seem to achieve high efficiency in policy, they come with serious ethical concerns regarding violation of the individual’s autonomy.

In contrast, a self-nudge is when an individual decides their own default decisions. While the idea of self-nudges is not new, it has been unclear how a self-nudge performs in comparison with a social nudge. A self-nudge solves the problem of individual autonomy, but does it achieve high efficiency? Waichman, Diederich, and Goeschl answered this question by conducting a social dilemma experiment with 1,080 participants from the general population in Germany with different feedback conditions.

They found that (1) the social nudge potentially violates autonomy as only 8% of participants choose it as a preference, and (2) autonomy and efficiency conflict: group-level contributions under self-nudge are consistently lower than under the social nudge. They conclude, “When committed to autonomy, the policy-maker – to maximize efficiency – best combines self-nudging with an information structure with public defaults.”

Read the full article here.

Post Date: 01-13-2025