Leonhard Lades
Behavioural scientist working on sludge, and on the question of who it actually falls on.
Who they are
Lades works on behavioural public policy and administrative burden. With colleagues he ran the survey that asked which types of sludge people feel most vulnerable to and find least acceptable, which had not previously been established.
Key papers
Lades, L. K., Samahita, M., Martin, L., Sunstein, C. R., & Baekgaard, M. (2025). Vulnerability to and acceptability of different types of sludge. Behavioural Public Policy.
Shahab, S., & Lades, L. K. (2021). Sludge and transaction costs. Behavioural Public Policy.
Key ideas
Across 1,591 people, the most-reported vulnerabilities were outdated websites with broken links, unfriendly staff interactions, jargon-laden documents and hard-to-navigate websites, which were also the least acceptable.
Less vulnerability was reported to long waiting times and to requirements to provide private information.
People with poor mental health reported more vulnerability and less acceptance, and procrastination plus a lack of time and mental energy predicted more vulnerability.
Concepts on this site
Sources
- doi:10.1017/bpp.2025.10020
- doi:10.1017/bpp.2021.12