Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

The distributional effects of nudges

Nudges are tools to achieve behavioural change. To evaluate nudges, it is essential to consider not only their overall welfare effects but also their distributional effects. Some nudges will not help, and might hurt, identifiable groups. More targeted, personalized nudging may be needed to maximize social welfare and promote distributive justice.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Thaler, R. H. & Sunstein, C. Nudge: The Final Edition (Penguin, 2021).

  2. Beshears, J. & Kosowsky, H. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 161 (Suppl), 3–19 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Sunstein, C. Sludge: What Stops Us From Getting Things Done And What To Do About It (MIT Press, 2021).

  4. Jachimowicz, J. M., Duncan, S., Weber, E. U. & Johnson, E. J. Behav. Public Policy 3, 159–186 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Roberts, J. Mich. Law Rev. 116, 1045–1066 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Thunström, L. Judgm. Decis. Mak. 14, 11–25 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Thunström, L., Gilbert, B. & Ritten, C. J. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 153, 267–282 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bolton, G., Dimant, E. & Schmidt, U. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 191, 946–964 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Mrkva, K., Posner, N. A., Reeck, C. & Johnson, E. J. J. Mark. 85, 67–84 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mullainathan, S. & Shafir, E. Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much (Times Books, 2013).

  11. Bocoum, F., Grimm, M., Hartwig, R. & Zongo, N. Soc. Sci. Med. 220, 102–111 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Agarwal, S., Chomsisengphet, S., Mahoney, N. & Stroebel, J. Q. J. Econ. 130, 111–164 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Beshears, J., Choi, J., Laibson, D., Madrian, B. C. & Skimmyhorn, W. J. Finance, https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13069 (2021).

  14. Liebe, U., Gewinner, J. & Diekmann, A. Nat. Hum. Behav. 5, 576–585 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Mills, S. Behav. Public Policy, https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2020.7 (2020).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cass R. Sunstein.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Human Behaviour thanks Linda Thunström and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sunstein, C.R. The distributional effects of nudges. Nat Hum Behav 6, 9–10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01236-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01236-z

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing