The Ethics of Influence
Government in the Age of Behavioral Science
Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society Series

In recent years, 'nudge units' or 'behavioral insights teams' have been created in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other nations. All over the world, public officials are using the behavioral sciences to protect the environment, promote employment and economic growth, reduce poverty, and increase national security. In this book, Cass R. Sunstein, the eminent legal scholar and best-selling co-author of Nudge (2008), breaks new ground with a deep yet highly readable investigation into the ethical issues surrounding nudges, choice architecture, and mandates, addressing such issues as welfare, autonomy, self-government, dignity, manipulation, and the constraints and responsibilities of an ethical state. Complementing the ethical discussion, The Ethics of Influence: Government in the Age of Behavioral Science contains a wealth of new data on people's attitudes towards a broad range of nudges, choice architecture, and mandates.

1. The age of behavioral science; 2. Choice and its architecture; 3. 'As judged by themselves'; 4. Values; 5. Fifty shades of manipulation; 6. Do people like nudges? Empirical findings; 7. Green by default? Ethical challenges for environmental protection; 8. Mandates - a very brief recapitulation; Appendix A. American attitudes toward thirty-four nudges; Appendix B. Survey questions; Appendix C. Executive Order 13707: using behavioral science insights to better serve the American people; Acknowledgements.

Cass R. Sunstein is Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University, Massachusetts. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School, and he is the author of many articles and books, including the best-selling Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), Why Nudge? (2014), Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas (2014), Wiser: Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter (2014), Valuing Life: Humanizing the Regulatory State (2014), Choosing Not to Choose: Understanding the Value of Choice (2015) and Constitutional Personae: Heroes, Soldiers, Minimalists, and Mutes (2015).