How far to nudge? Assessing behavioural public policy
| Author | Martin Lodge |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12582 |
REVIEW
How far to nudge? Assessing behavioural public
policy
Peter John
Edward Elgar, 2018, 174 pp., £15.96 (pb), ISBN: 978 1 78643 056 4
Peter John’sHow far to Nudge? reflects on years of engagement with the ‘behavioural economics’turn in public policy.
This relatively short volume has a clear agenda—it wants to encourage those interested in and committed to ‘nudge’to
consider taking their approaches further, supporting a more reflective and possibly more inclusive approach towards
policy-making. In doing so, John challenges the existing nudge movement to move beyond its existing comfort zone. This
book arrives at a critical time, as behavioural public policy (or ‘nudge’or ‘behavioural insights’) has become central to con-
temporary policy advocacy and reform, including its own international conferences, journals and associational networks.
The volume addresses a number of concerns. Three chapters (two, three and four) set the wider scene for the
book’s argument.First, John introduces and surveys the kindof individual behaviours that nudge-related interventions
seek to address. Second,he summarizes the intellectualbackground to contemporary behavioural public policy,namely
the way in which an agenda shaped by behavioural economics has come todrive discussions about policy instrument
design. In chapter four, John’s experienceat the heart of the UK central government’s‘Nudge unit’showsin his infor-
mative account of how behaviourally informed interventions have come to dominate much of the policy agenda. He
also highlights the close association of the nudge agendawith certain leading politicians at the centre of government.
The final four chapters respond to key challenges that have been presented to the nudge movement. First, John
responds to keycriticisms that target nudge, suchas limited range, ambition and reach,temporariness of effects,exter-
nal validity concerns, or neoliberalideology. Peter John highlights howexisting research suggests that whilesomewhat
valid, thesecriticisms do not constitute a fundamental critique ofthe wider nudge agenda.
Second, John critically reflects on the ethical challenges associated with libertarian paternalism, considering the
various interventions made by Cass Sunstein to defend nudge against various types of criticisms. Third, John con-
siders the possibility of a ‘nudge plus’; the aim being not just to broaden the application of behaviourally informed
interventions, but also to increase greater deliberation and reflection in instrument choice, coupled with an emphasis
on decentralized applications. The call for ‘nudge plus’is ultimately the key claim (already foreshadowed in the intro-
ductory chapter): the nudge movement should be concerned with making behaviourally informed interventions more
open and democratic, aiming to make a long-term impact. This ‘nudge plus’seeks to encourage deliberative rather
than intuitive (system 2 rather than system 1) thinking. As John highlights, trying to encourage greater reflection and
openness is difficult and has, as yet, only provided mixed results.
There is much to admire in this volume. John makes the case for putting the role of individual behaviour change
at the centre of policy-making, while acknowledging the presence of wider structural conditions. He emphasizes the
importance of legitimacy. And as any good book, it leaves the reader wanting to engage further with the issues
raised. John highlights the ways in which academic insights were translated into policy practice and offers insights
into the nudge movement. However, here one would have wanted to hear some more, about the paths not taken,
the close connectedness between key actors that have allowed national and international diffusion and the favour-
able political conditions that made nudge ‘the’fashion of its day. This ‘translation’work may have been about careful
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12582
Public Administration. 2019;97:233–234. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 233
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