Thanks Adam. I read this quickly (and at 6 AM Singapore time), but enjoyed it very much. Your claim that the rhetoric around informed choices helps to explain its current popularity seems plausible and makes it even less surprising that it has been perverted in use. The claim that it should should be used to complement regulation reminded me of the argument in Larry Brown and Larry Jacob's book, The Private Abuse of The Public Interest, in which they explain why it is a mistake to view market-based interventions as a substitute for government...etc.
The nice summary of insights from behavioral economics made me wonder how much of this is really new? The reference to Simon's concept of satisficing, in particular, gave it an "old wine in new bottles" feeling....though, if correct, I suppose that's not unique to this, is it? "Deliberative democracy" is just as popular in policy circles as behavioral economics ( perhaps even more so in the US where a reference to it seems obligatory in most government reports!), but that too feels like a cute re-branding of older ideas. Perhaps there is something new in both? Or perhaps the new jargon helps to reinvigorate intellectual and policy debates about old, but still useful ideas ( or maybe I am just tired and grouchy because it is 6 AM and I am about to spend my fifth straight day interviewing doctors in Singapore about end of life care)? Anyway, thanks again for sharing. Perhaps my simultaneous attack on popular concepts in economics and political science will stir a bit of dialogue :)
Cheers,
Michael
Sent from my iPad
On Apr 13, 2012, at 1:07 AM, "Adam Oliver" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi
>
> For anyone who can bear to read anything else by me (assuming, of
> course, that you've read anything by me before), I have a little blog on
> behavioural economic policy that has just come online at:
> http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/healthandsocialcare/
>
> I wrote the piece at the end of last year I think (I was slow in getting
> it put online), and on re-reading just now there are a couple of things
> slightly out of date (e.g. the nudge unit has released more than two
> reports). I've been thinking quite a bit about this policy area just
> lately (with a view to write a proper article on it), and, frankly, the
> field is a mess. Politicians throughout the world are misusing it to
> advance their own ideologies, the original meaning of, and accepted
> limitations of, the approach are largely being lost, etc etc.
>
> Anyway, apologies for the unsolicited emails from me. I set up these
> lists to facilitate dialogues in various areas. But perhaps I've turned
> them into monologues (Am I concerned? Perhaps, a bit - can this be
> counted as a dialogue?).
>
> Best,
> Adam
>
>
> Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://lse.ac.uk/emailDisclaimer
|