Personalized nudging
Author:
Open Access
- 13 April 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Behavioural Public Policy
- Vol. 6 (1) , 150-159
Abstract
A criticism of behavioural nudges is that they lack precision, sometimes nudging people who – had their personal circumstances been known – would have benefitted from being nudged differently. This problem may be solved through a programme of personalized nudging. This paper proposes a two-component framework for personalization that suggests choice architects can personalize both the choices being nudged towards (choice personalization) and the method of nudging itself (delivery personalization). To do so, choice architects will require access to heterogeneous data. This paper argues that such data need not take the form of big data, but agrees with previous authors that the opportunities to personalize nudges increase as data become more accessible. Finally, this paper considers two challenges that a personalized nudging programme must consider, namely the risk personalization poses to the universality of laws, regulation and social experiences, and the data access challenges policy-makers may encounter.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Nudges that hurt those already hurting – distributional and unintended effects of salience nudges*Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2018
- Behavioural science and policy: where are we now and where are we going?Behavioural Public Policy, 2018
- The social power of algorithmsInformation, Communication & Society, 2016
- ‘Hypernudge’: Big Data as a mode of regulation by designInformation, Communication & Society, 2016
- Personalizing Default Rules and Disclosure with Big DataSSRN Electronic Journal, 2013
- The Storrs Lectures: Behavioral Economics and PaternalismSSRN Electronic Journal, 2012
- Impersonal Default Rules vs. Active Choices vs. Personalized Default Rules: A TriptychSSRN Electronic Journal, 2012
- Optimal Defaults and Active Decisions*The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2009
- Materializing MoralityScience, Technology, & Human Values, 2006
- Save More Tomorrow™: Using Behavioral Economics to Increase Employee SavingJournal of Political Economy, 2004