Policymakers are increasingly using behavioural insights to achieve public policy goals. By developing regulations that are automatic and intuitive, they have been able to get people to save more for their retirement, contribute to pension plans and raise organ donation rates, among other things. These outcomes have inspired private and public institutions to continue exploring the potential of “nudges” – approaches that steer people towards certain outcomes while also allowing them to go their own way. But this has given rise to a backlash of sorts, with some people objecting that nudges are a form of unacceptable paternalism.
Professor Cass Sunstein is one of America’s leading public intellectuals and an advocate of improving human welfare through improved choice architecture in public policy. He will speak to IPS Corporate Associates about the concepts that underpin his work and why well-chosen nudges can make people’s lives better while maintaining freedom of choice. He will discuss how both the private and public sectors nudge people regularly, and will also address why nudges – despite being an insufficient approach to some of the world’s most serious problems – still have major advantages over coercive approaches. This session will be chaired by Mr Donald Low, Associate Dean (Research and Executive Education) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
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