A review by elainewlin
Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

5.0

I enjoy this book. It defends libertarian paternalism, the idea institutions can affect decisions while respecting freedom of choice. The idea promotes actively engineering choice architectures. I agree with the idea because I believe that intentional, well-designed systems make the world a better place. Many existing systems (think the QWERTY keyboard) are standard/well-adopted not because they're optimal, but because of luck/randomness. I also like that the book includes concrete policy suggestions for increasing retirement savings, improving the environment, increasing organ donations, etc, so it didn't feel like "fluffy" pop psychology.