Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 Nudge blog http://nudges.org Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? Part II http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:19:45 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4047 unexpectedness of the free oil lube and air pump that led cyclists to remember the event and move their bike to specially designated parking areas. There could be alternative explanations, though. One is about reciprocity. The oil lube and tire air pressure check was a "gift" from the city of Copenhagen, and its recipients, recognizing it as such, felt obliged to respond with a gift of their own. Since the city's initial gift came with a suggested "thank you gift" (ie. not parking illegally), riders responded. They moved their bikes next time. That this "gift" was unsolicited is of no consequence. The power of reciprocity in generating compliance is independent of recipient need or desire, as Robert Cialdini points out in Influence. It generates feelings of indebtedness, even though the recipient never asked for such a gift. There are a series of experiments showing this effect, but you can see its influence in your own mailbox. Have you noticed that charities send out free personal return address labels with their solicitations? They generate a higher response from inquires without them - even if most people rarely use the labels!]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/06/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful-part-ii/feed/ 0 Learn some psychology http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4043 advice to students of all ages:
Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals. For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own. This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/05/learn-some-psychology/feed/ 0 Why is the Copenhagen charm offensive so successful? http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:23:58 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4035 Bicycle butlers" who oil your chain, pump your tires, and leave you a note kindly asking you to park your bike in the appropriate place next time. The number of illegally parked bikes has dropped by more than two-thirds. Those are impressive results and would-be nudgers should be curious. What's behind that big drop? One possible explanation is implied in the bike butler project leader Poul Erik Kinimond's comment about the solution. Kinimond said the team wanted to tackle the "problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles." Call this the kill them with kindness explanation. Persuasion with a velvet glove rather than an iron first. Maybe. The Nudge blog agrees that kindness is doing the persuasive work here, but only indirectly. Kindness works because it's unexpected. To be more specific, unexpected in this situation. What situation is that? Parking. When your vehicle (car, bike, etc.) is parked illegally, what happens? You get a ticket, or a boot, or even towed. Punishment is the predicted outcome. Occasionally, like on Christmas Day or New Years, police officers may have written you a "happy holidays" warning instead of a ticket. If that's ever happened to you, chances are you remember it. Why? Because it was out of the norm, which is exactly what the Copenhagen nudge is. Exploiting unexpectedness is a powerful strategy for getting people to remember something, a point behavioralists Dan and Chip Heath make in Made to Stick. Think of an unexpected occurrence as akin to a reminder note that continues to pop up in your mind every time you revisit the original situation. What's unique about the Copenhagen example is the free oil lube and air pump.  There are some similarities to the world of customer service. The Heath brothers point to the example of Nordstrom's legendary customer service where employees have gone so far as to wrap products a customer bought at another store. The friendly note to park elsewhere next time ties the unexpected oil and air "service gift" to a specific request, putting it back in context of the larger message about appropriate bike parking places. Those two items, the gift and the message, will come together as a package every time that person returns to the metro stop on their bike. They'll think, "Remember that time I parked my bike illegally..." The lesson of Copenhagen isn't that all cities should start oiling the chains and pumping the tires of illegal bike parkers. It's that more cities should break out of the ticket norm if they want to induce behavioral change.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/02/why-is-the-copenhagen-charm-offensive-so-successful/feed/ 2 Cycling carrots in Copenhagen http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/ http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:18 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4031 Bicycle butlers."
If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future... When the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50. "It's been a bigger success than I had expected. At the beginning I wasn't keen on rewarding people who parked illegally. The idea was to tackle the problem in a way that wouldn't make people angry because we moved their bicycles," sais (Project Leader Poul Erik) Kinimond.
Hat tip: Cheryl Longinotti]]> http://nudges.org/2010/09/01/cycling-carrots-in-copenhagen/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4029 drunk people. 2) More calories tomorrow. Calorie counts, that is. 3) More productive employees. Just say thank you to them. Hat tip: Simoleon Sense. 4) More mail. Gmail's inbox gets smarter. 5) More bang for your buck. In Massachusetts, a 30 percent food stamp discount for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. But will the discount be visible enough?]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/31/assorted-links-39/feed/ 1 New stickers for new cars – Do they get an A? http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:25:07 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4020 The Environmental Protection Agency hopes you said the first one, which tries to highlight the pocketbook impact better, and adds new details about environmental friendliness. As part of window sticker requirements starting in 2012, the agency is looking to make some changes. The agency is considering swapping the bottom sticker for the top one. Now consider this sticker, which the EPA is also considering. The same information that's on the first label is all there, but of course, there's now that giant letter grade that's supposed to sum up fuel and environmental specs for the car in comparison to all other models (cars, trucks, and SUVS) on the market. Reports the NYT:
The highest grade, A+, with fuel economy rated as equivalent to 117 miles per gallon and up, would be for “zero emission” electric cars. Plug-in hybrid electric cars (59 to 116 m.p.g. equivalent) would get an A, and some conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, would get an A-. Other hybrids, like the Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, would receive a B+.
On the positive side, a school-like grading system is one that everyone is intimately familiar with and, therefore, requires no additional explanation (no grade inflation jokes, please). On the negative side, because grades are so closely tied to education, interpreting them with automobiles is more complicated. In school, everyone wants an A. In a showroom, everyone probably doesn't want an A. Fuel consumption and environmental friendliness are only two of a host of dimensions buyers will consider. Maybe fuel efficiency is my top priority. Or maybe my top priority is actually a car with lots of towing power, although I'm happy to get the one that sips the least gas. Since the sticker only comes with a grade, and not pictures (or even names would be ok) of other cars with similar grades, I don't know how heavily to factor it in my decision. Yes, a shopper can go dig up the kinds of details about A+ vs. B+ cars as reported in the New York Times, but the point is if it's not on the sticker, it's likely to be ignored. The EPA hasn't decided which sticker to have automakers adopt. If you have thoughts, you can let the EPA know here. Hat tip: Colin Manuel.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/30/new-stickers-for-car-buyers-do-they-get-an-a/feed/ 1 It's not just seniors who find choosing a Medicare Part D plan confusing – it's doctors too! http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:09:20 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4014 here) of medical students and residents at a leading (unnamed) hospital looking at simplified versions of 3, 10 and 20 Medicare Part D plans, the researchers found that more than two-thirds of doctors picked the right one. However, poor choices increased with the number of plans offered. Keep in mind that most states offer more than 50 plans whose descriptions are not nearly as streamlined as the ones in this study. Discouragingly, physician confidence rose as the number of mistakes increased. But doctors with better numerical skills performed better with their choices. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to use that piece of information when making physician choices today. if you're picking a primary care physician from a health insurance provider's list, you are often told what medical school a doctor attended, but not what that doctor majored in back in college.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/29/its-not-just-seniors-who-find-choosing-a-medicare-part-d-plan-confusing-its-doctors-too/feed/ 0 Assorted links http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:41 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4011 economists what the appropriate tax rates for the richest Americans should be. Time magazine then asked three leading behavioral economists (Richard Thaler, David Laibson, and Dan Ariely) to read those responses and weigh in. 2) People spend more when it's sunny. Are retailers going to start experimenting with artificial sun lamps? Hat tip: Five Minute Economist. 3) The Department of Health and Human Services releases a computer widget to help you find affordable health insurance. 4) Why is your garage, your pantry, or your office filled with stuff you never use? Overconfidence. 5) When financial executives offer a range for stock market returns with 80 percent confidence, they turn out to be right just one-third of the time.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/26/assorted-links-38/feed/ 0 It's not a "garbage can" – it's a small landfill http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:20:47 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4006 Alan Schwartz reports on the labeling of waste and recycling bins at a local hospital. One is for "mixed paper"; another is for "Glass - plastic - aluminum. The third, a trash bin, is not labeled "trash" or "waste," however. Rather, it's a nice reminder to make sure you're not throwing out mixed paper, glass, plastic or aluminum. Addendum: This photo is a nice example of what we'd like to post more of on our Twitter page.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/its-not-a-garbage-can-its-a-small-landfill/feed/ 0 CVS changes the online choice architecture of its prescription drug renewal form http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/cvs-changes-the-online-choice-architecture-of-its-prescription-drug-renewal-form/ http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/cvs-changes-the-online-choice-architecture-of-its-prescription-drug-renewal-form/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:06:26 +0000 nudgeblog http://nudges.org/?p=4001 WSJ:
The test prompt required users to click either yes or no when asked about auto refills, rather than just offering a box to be checked for more information, (says Bari Harlam, senior VP at CVS Caremark). “It’s both things,” she says. “This is very much about using clear, plain language, and also offering it at the right time.”
More on the CVS results can be found here.]]> http://nudges.org/2010/08/25/cvs-changes-the-online-choice-architecture-of-its-prescription-drug-renewal-form/feed/ 0