RSA Thursday - Nudge: improving decisions about wealth, health and happiness

17th Jul 2008; 13:00

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With Richard Thaler, Professor of Behavioural Science and Economics, University of Chicago

Every day we make decisions on topics ranging from the personal investments we select, to the schools we pick for our children, to the foods we eat, to the causes we champion.

Richard Thaler’s new book, Nudge, co-authored by renowned legal theorist Cass Sunstein, shows that we don't always choose well – the reason being that we all are susceptible to cognitive biases and blunders that make us human, fallible, and prone to error.

However, Thaler and Sunstein urge us to recognise our “human-ness” as a given and to use the way we think to our advantage. They argue that it is possible to design environments that make it more likely for us to act in our own interests. Using colourful examples from all aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how “choice architects” can structure situations to guide us toward better choices while protecting, or even expanding, our individual freedoms.

Download full lecture and Q&A session (MP3)

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Watch Richard Thaler on RSA Vision.

Find out more about Nudge

In association with the University of Chicago Business School