Arad and Rubinstein (2015) on the People’s Perspective on Nudges

Ayala Arad and Ariel Rubinstein, “The People’s Perspective on Libertarian-Paternalistic Policies,” July 2015. This outline draws on the July, 2015 version of the paper, but a later version (October, 2017) of the paper is available here, as a pdf.

• Two online studies (each n>1000) are conducted with university students in Israel, Germany, and the US.

• In Study 1, subjects either are presented with an opt-in employee savings plan, or a government-mandated opt-out version with an 8% savings default. 

• A large percentage (28-53% across the three countries) of subjects have a negative view of the opt-out version (especially if they are aware of the opt-in alternative), even if they intend to save 8% monthly. Indeed, fewer people indicate that they will take up the 8% savings rate when it is presented as the default than would take it up on an opt-in basis. 

• Study 2 concerns attempts to decrease the consumption of fatty foods. Some measures (taxes, one-day-per-week ban) are hard paternalism, one is a System 1 nudge (shifting the placement of food items on menus), and two are System 2 nudges involving information provision (media campaign, smartphone app).

• The effectiveness of each of the measures in reducing consumption of fatty foods is presented to the subjects, with seven variations. 

• Up to 25% of subjects think that government shouldn’t be in the business of trying to change diets. 

• Most subjects (among those who do not object to the government being involved) seem to prefer whatever measure is most effective. 

• But 19 to 54% of subjects prefer the info provision, even when it is less effective than the System 1 nudge. 

• The “hard” interventions attract little support.

• The October 2017 version of the paper includes these two sentences in the abstract: "The opposition to soft interventions appears to be driven by concerns about manipulation and the fear of a 'slippery slope' to non-consensual interventions. Opposition to soft interventions is reduced when they are carried out by employers rather than the government."