Acclaim for the original edition of Nudge
Nudge has changed the world. You may not realize it, but as a result of its findings youre likely to live longer, retire richer, and maybe even save other peoples lives.
The Times (London)
Probably the most influential popular science book ever written.
BBC Radio 4
This gem of a book... is a must read.
Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prizewinning author of Thinking, Fast and Slow
Engaging and insightful... The conceptual argument is powerful, and most of the authors suggestions are common sense at its best.... For that we should all applaud loudly.
The New York Times Book Review
This book is terrific. It will change the way you think, not only about the world around you and some of its bigger problems, but also about yourself.
Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liars Poker
One of the few books... that fundamentally changed the way I think about the world.
Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics
Utterly brilliant... Nudge wont nudge youit will knock you off your feet.
Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness
Nudge is as important a book as any Ive read in perhaps twenty years. It is a book that people interested in any aspect of public policy should read. It is a book that people interested in politics should read. It is a book that people interested in ideas about human freedom should read. It is a book that people interested in promoting human welfare should read. If youre not interested in any of these topics, you can read something else.
Barry Schwartz, The American Prospect
Engaging, informative, and thoroughly delightful.
Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things and The Design of Future Things
A wonderful book: more fun than any important book has a right to beand yet it is truly both.
Roger Lowenstein, author of When Genius Failed
Save the planet, save yourself. Do-gooders, policymakers, this ones for you. Newsweek
Great fun to read... Sunstein and Thaler are very persuasive.
Slate
Nudge helps us understand our weaknesses, and suggests savvy ways to counter them. The New York Observer
Always stimulating... An entertaining book that also deeply informs. Barrons
Entertaining, engaging, and well written... Highly recommended.
Choice
This Poor Richards Almanack for the twenty-first century... shares both the sagacity and the witty and accessible style of its eighteenth-century predecessor. Law and Politics Book Review
There are superb insights in Nudge .
Financial Times
PENGUIN BOOKS
NUDGE
Richard H. Thaler was awarded the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to the field of behavioral economics. He is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2015 he was the president of the American Economic Association. He has been published in numerous prominent journals and is the author of Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics .
Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, where he is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy. From 2009 to 2012 he served in the Obama administration as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and from 2020 to 2021 he served as chair of the Technical Advisory Group for Behavioural Insights and Health at the World Health Organization, and in 2021 he joined the Biden administration as senior counselor and regulatory policy officer in the Department of Homeland Security. He has testified before congressional committees, been involved in constitution-making and law reform activities in many nations, and written numerous articles and books, including Too Much Information and Noise (with Daniel Kahneman and Olivier Sibony). He is the recipient of the 2018 Holberg Prize, awarded annually to a scholar who has made outstanding contributions to research in the arts, humanities, social sciences, law, or theology.
PENGUIN BOOKS
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
penguinrandomhouse.com
First published in the United States of America by Yale University Press 2008
First published in Penguin Books 2009
This updated edition published in Penguin Books 2021
Copyright 2008, 2009, 2021 by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
The Times They Are A-Changin: Words and music by Dylan. Universal Tunes. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Names: Thaler, Richard H., 1945 author. | Sunstein, Cass R., author.
Title: Nudge : the final edition / Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.
Description: Final edition. | [New York] : Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. | First published in the United States
of America by Yale University Press, 2008Title page. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021008635 (print) | LCCN 2021008636 (ebook) | ISBN 9780143137009 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780525508526 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: EconomicsPsychological aspects. | Choice (Psychology)Economic aspects. | Decision makingPsychological aspects. | Consumer behavior.
Classification: LCC HB74.P8 T53 2021 (print) | LCC HB74.P8 (ebook) | DDC 330.01/9dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021008635
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021008636
Designed by Sabrina Bowers, adapted for ebook by Estelle Malmed
Cover design by Matt Vee
pid_prh_5.7.1_c0_r0
For France, who (still) makes everything in life better
RHT
For Samantha, who knows what matters
CRS
Contents
Preface to the Final Edition
The original version of Nudge was published in the spring of 2008. While we were writing it, Thaler got his first iPhone and Sunstein his first BlackBerry. In his first term as a United States senator, our former University of Chicago colleague Barack Obama had decided to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president. Senator Joe Biden was also doing that, without a whole lot of success. Real estate developer and reality television star Donald Trump was proclaiming that Clinton was fantastic and would make a great president. A financial crisis was emerging. Taylor Swift was nineteen years old (and had not yet won a Grammy), and Greta Thunberg was just five.
To say the least, a few things have happened in the intervening years. But Nudge continues to attract interest, and we have not been much inclined to tinker with it. Why a revision now? As we discuss in the book, status quo bias is a strong force.
Very much in keeping with the books spirit, we were induced to emerge from our slumber by a seemingly small matter. The contracts for the American and British paperback editions had expired, and new ones had to be agreed upon. Editors asked whether we might want to add a new chapter or possibly make other changes. Our immediate reaction was to say no. After all, Thaler is famously lazy and Sunstein could have written an entirely new book in the time it would take to get the slow-fingered Thaler to agree to anything. Besides, we were proud of the book, and why mess with a good thing?
