Nudging, Transparency, and Watchfulness

Ivanković, Viktor; Engelen, Bart

doi:10.5840/soctheorpract20191751

Cited by 27 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…Compared with other complex policies—like taxation and regulation—nudges are comparatively easy to understand and spot. And if nudge policies are indeed amenable to being made transparent, they might be just as amenable to individual and democratic control (Ivanković & Engelen, ; Schmidt, ). But note that the claim is merely that nudging is amenable to democratic control, not that all current nudge practices fully meet democratic standards.…”

Section: Arguments Against Nudgingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The ethics of nudging: An overview

2020

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So‐called nudge policies utilize insights from behavioral science to achieve policy outcomes. Nudge policies try to improve people's decisions by changing the ways options are presented to them, rather than changing the options themselves or incentivizing or coercing people. Nudging has been met with great enthusiasm but also fierce criticism. This paper provides an overview of the debate on the ethics of nudging to date. After outlining arguments in favor of nudging, we first discuss different objections that all revolve around the worry that nudging vitiates personal autonomy. We split up this worry into different dimensions of autonomy, such as freedom of choice, volitional autonomy, rational agency, and freedom as nondomination. We next discuss worries that nudging is manipulative, violates human dignity, and prevents more important structural reform. Throughout, we will present responses that proponents of nudging can muster. On the whole, we conclude that the objections fail to establish that the nudge program as a whole should be rejected. At the same time, they give us important guidance when moving towards an ethical assessment of nudges on a case‐by‐case basis. Towards the end, we provide some possible ways forward in debates around the ethics of nudging.

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Section: Arguments Against Nudgingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared with other complex policies-like taxation and regulation-nudges are comparatively easy to understand and spot. And if nudge policies are indeed amenable to being made transparent, they might be just as amenable to individual and democratic control (Ivankovi c & Engelen, 2019;Schmidt, 2017).…”

Section: Absence Of Dominationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ethics of nudging: An overview

2020

Self Cite

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“…Ensuring transparency means that, in practice, a watchful person would be able to identify a nudge (Bovens 2009). The concept of watchfulness has been developed by Ivanković and Engelen (2019) who suggest that experts in the population should be trained to detect and raise concerns about nudges if needed. However, this approach places responsibility for watchfulness onto the public, potentially absolving government from responsibility in ensuring nudges are transparent.…”

Section: Can a Nudge Be Transparent?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using the example of the GPS, Sunstein claims that if nudges are a way of helping people reach their goals then the ethical considerations are less relevant and nudges do not undermine agency (Sunstein 2015a). However, this example of a GPS uses information and reflexive thinking to nudge, what may be called a type 2 transparent nudge (Ivanković and Engelen 2019). Other arguments that nudges may not be manipulative similarly use the example of transparent, reflexive thinking (Hansen and Jespersen 2013).…”

Section: Using Nudges Manipulating Citizens?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Should an Ethical Public Servant Nudge?

Einfeld

2020

The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant

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Public servants around the world have embraced nudges. Using nudges, public servants can encourage individuals towards a particular choice by changing the way the decision is presented. There are now over 200 institutions applying behavioral insights to public policy, with dedicated behavioral insights teams in countries such as Japan, Singapore, UK, Australia, and Germany. It is so popular that the approach has been described as a "policy movement" and the "default policy option." Advocates argue that by using nudges and behavioral insights, public servants can help people make better decisions. Yet critics from both academia and the public claim that the use of nudges is unethical. It is seen as a

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“…The threat of manipulation and loss of autonomy is perhaps the most important argument for the position that (covertly) nudging people to take part in a variety of minimal or less-than-minimal risk activities in the field of biomedical research, such as donating leftover biological tissue to research biobanks (as well as in public health surveillance programs; or learning activities in an LHS), is unethical (Bovens, 2009; Hausman & Welch, 2010; Rebonato, 2014). According to a number of authors, this threat can be eliminated or at least severely lessened, however, if, instead of covert nudges, transparent nudges were employed (Ivanković & Engelen, 2019; Schmidt, 2017; Sunstein, 2015). Such transparent nudges can involve disclosure of information on the potential influence of the nudge, its purpose, or both.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transparent Defaults and Consent for Participation in a Learning Health Care System: An Empirical Study

Dranseika

Piasecki

2020

Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics

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We report a preregistered study that was designed to answer three questions about using transparent defaults to increase participation in a hypothetical learning health care system. Do default options influence consent to participate in learning activities within a learning health care system? Does transparency about default options decrease the effect of the defaults? Do people reconsider their choice of participation once they are informed about the defaults applied? In our study, application of the defaults did not have influence on rates of consent, nor did transparency about defaults have an effect on the rates of consent. Participants were also not likely to change their choice after being informed that defaults were applied to their previous choice. In general, our study raises doubts that defaults (both covert and transparent) can be used as an effective means in significantly increasing participation in learning health care systems.

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Nudging, Transparency, and Watchfulness

Cited by 27 publications

References 0 publications

The ethics of nudging: An overview

The ethics of nudging: An overview

Should an Ethical Public Servant Nudge?

Transparent Defaults and Consent for Participation in a Learning Health Care System: An Empirical Study

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