Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler is one of the single most influential books I’ve ever read.
They coined, libertarian paternalism, a concept which they use to present the justification for embracing the role of choice architects in a variety of fields.
Allowing for free will and choice while still framing the decisions for the best likely outcomes.
I was thinking about this book when I considered including a weekly book review in my LinkedIn writing because a well read friend of mine hasn’t read it and I had not reread it since ~2008 when it first came out.
I didn’t realize it’s been rewritten and released with some updated examples and some success stories from institutions and people who have applied the wisdom across many fields.
– defaults matter and can have persistent, far reaching impacts
– experts can and SHOULD help less knowledgeable people improve their lives and outcomes
– there is no neutral way to set up systems and frame choices, the design always influences the outcomes
Some of the examples they present stuck with me 15 years later like setting up company retirement savings plans to default employee contributions to receive the maximum company match, rather than $0.
Sunstein and Thaler are pioneers within the field of behavioral economics. They write in a straightforward and informative manner and they choose lots of accessible examples that can be translated across disciplines.
Nudge has likely already impacted your life indirectly through government policy or the work of others who have applied it’s teaching.
The book stands the test of time in its original form, but the updates and revisions are also worth reading.
Carragee Consulting 
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