Nudge, Nudge, Think, Think: Experimenting with Ways to Change Civic Behaviour

'A pathbreaking book that for the first time brings smart policy insights into contact with creative, rigorous testing.This book sets the standard for all future scientific evaluations of "what works".' Donald P. Green, Columbia University, USA How can governments persuade citizens to act in socially beneficial ways? Thaler and Sunstein's book Nudge drew on work from behavioural economics to claim that citizens might be encouraged through 'light touch interventions' (i.e.nudges) to take action.This ground-breaking successor to Nudge is now available in paperback, with a new preface.In it, Peter John and his colleagues argue that an alternative approach to nudge also needs to be considered, based on what they call a 'think' strategy. Their core idea is that citizens should themselves deliberate and decide their own priorities as part of a process of civic and democratic renewal.The authors not only set out these divergent approaches in theory but they offer evidence from a series of experiments to show how using techniques from 'nudge' or 'think' repertoires work in practice and how that practice is made effective.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter 1. Why Change Civic Behaviour? PART ONE: How to Change Civic Behaviour Chapter 2: The Nudge Strategy Chapter 3 The Think strategy Chapter 4: Comparing Nudge and Think Chapter 5 Testing Nudge and Think PART TWO: Nudge Strategies Chapter 6: Promoting Recycling Chapter 7: Promoting Volunteering Chapter 8: Increasing Political Participation Chapter 9: Enhancing Pledging PART THREE: Think Strategies Chapter 10: Deliberation On-line Chapter 11 Constructing Better Face-to-face Deliberation PART FOUR: Synthesis Chapter 12: Are There Alternatives to Nudge and Think? Chapter 13: Developing Strategy for the Future Chapter 14 Can Nudge Learn from Think? Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Peter John, Sarah Cotterill and Liz Richardson are based at the Institute for Political and Economic Governance (IPEG), University of Manchester, UK. Alice Moseley, Graham Smith, Gerry Stoker and Corinne Wales are based at the Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, University of Southampton, UK.

Review :
In sum, Nudge, Nudge, Think, Think not only informs the reader about how nudge and think strategies can be combined, but also about what the potential benefits and drawbacks of such strategies are for a range of public behaviours. -- Sander van der Linden LSE British Politics and Policy blog