Should Governments Invest More in Nudging?
Benartzi and colleagues note that governments increasingly use behavioural techniques that change decisions without coercion or large changes to economic incentives. They calculate ratios of impact to cost for nudge interventions and for traditional policy tools such as tax incentives and other financial inducements. Nudges often compare favourably. They conclude that nudging is a valuable approach to use more often alongside traditional policies, while saying more calculations are needed to establish relative effectiveness.
Benartzi and colleagues note that governments increasingly use behavioural techniques that change decisions without coercion or large changes to economic incentives. They calculate ratios of impact to cost for nudge interventions and for traditional policy tools such as tax incentives and other financial inducements. Nudges often compare favourably. They conclude that nudging is a valuable approach to use more often alongside traditional policies, while saying more calculations are needed to establish relative effectiveness.
Written from the abstract as shown on the OpenAlex record, read 2026-11-04.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
Benartzi, S., Beshears, J., Milkman, K. L., Thaler, R. H., Shankar, M., Tucker-Ray, W., Congdon, W. J., & Galing, S. (2017). Should Governments Invest More in Nudging? Psychological Science