Defaults

Yes, more than the effort of changing them can explain. When one large employer switched its pension plan to automatic enrolment, participation among new staff rose from 37 to 86 per cent. The effect holds up in large trials and reviews, but its most famous example, organ donation, changes who is registered rather than how many transplants take place.

What the report found

1. Defaults are chosen far more often than the effort of changing them can explain. When a large American employer switched its pension plan from opt-in to automatic enrolment, participation among new staff rose from 37 to 86 per cent, and most of them stayed on the exact contribution rate the company had picked for them.
2. They work through three routes. Effort, because changing takes work. Endorsement, because people read a default as a recommendation from whoever set it. Endowment, because the default becomes the reference point, and leaving it feels like giving something up.
3. The core finding holds up under testing. A randomised trial with about 42,000 German households, a review of 58 studies and a national pension reform in the UK all point the same way. Effects are larger for consumer choices than for environmental ones.
4. The most famous example is the weakest. Organ donation defaults change who is registered as a donor. They have not been shown to reliably change how many transplants take place, and the authors who made the idea famous argue for asking people directly instead.
5. Defaults fail in predictable ways. They slip when the default is uncomfortable, when firms work to move people out of it, when people care about the decision, and when the choice is complicated. A high take-up rate on its own says nothing about whether people are better off.

What is inside

1. The idea and where it came from
2. The original studies, explained
3. What happened when others tested it
4. Where researchers disagree
5. What we can say with confidence

Plus a summary of findings, a timeline of the idea, a glossary and the full list of sources.

Who it is for

For anyone who designs a form, a plan or a policy, and anyone who has ever left a box ticked.

How we work

Evidence Reviews follow one idea from its first studies to the latest reviews. Every claim is graded Established, Emerging or Untested. We set out what the original studies found and what happened when others tested them, and where researchers still disagree, both sides come first. Only then do we say what we think.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Defaults: Why the pre-ticked box wins, and when it doesn’t. Evidence Review No. 01. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com