(Nudging as Part of Behavioural Economics cont. 3)

Some Examples of Nudging

i) rearranging the display of food items for selection in a cafeteria resulted in consumption changing by as much as 25%

ii) using checklists: using a surgical safety checklist reduced fatalities and post-operative complications by 30%

iii) using blister packs, rather than 'unrestricted' capsules or tablets in a bottle, to store medicines reduced drug overdose by around 40%

iv) etching of an artificial fly as a target in a men's urinal at an airport reduced spillage by 80% and cleaning costs by 8%; this is similar to training young boys to urinate accurately by putting a table tennis ball in the urinal and asking them to urinate on the ball.

v) use of lotteries to change behaviour as people don't look at the odds; rather varies potential for instant gratification; potential gains, ie prizemoney, far outweigh actual loss, ie cost of ticket.

vi) to reducing single trip vehicle numbers by providing personalised maps showing alternative travel options and bus timetables

vii) default options (gives people a preference for an easy option; never underestimate the power of inertia, ie it is a powerful nudging technique; it is being used successfully in providing organs for life-saving transplant operation, increased savings, menu-changing strategies, etc.). Some more examples

    - organ transplants (everybody is assumed to be a consenting donor, ie presumed consent, unless they have registered their unwillingness to donate, ie the default position is a donor; this nearly double the number of donors)

    - benefits, etc (once a year an American university allows its staff to revise their selection of benefits on health-insurance, retirement savings, etc; the default position is the same as last year - this is called the status quo default.)

A similar default is the back-to -zero default, ie where all the benefits are cancelled.

Default position can mean you do nothing, ie nothing changes; whatever is happening continues to happen.

A sensible default position can be useful if the choice is complicated and/or difficult or a simple 'yes-or-no' answer is required.

The most powerful default options are the ones where people have to do something to opt out, like complete a form to opt out, etc; the effort required to complete the form means that very few people opted out. For example, in a USA defined-contribution pension scheme, when it introduced automatic enrolment: with the only way to opt out was to complete a special form, so participation rates increased from the low 20% to over 90% and very few participants dropped out of the plan once enrolled).

viii) higher physical barriers (on infrastructure like bridges, buildings, etc build higher physical barriers so that people are unable to climb over and jump to their death)

ix) use of spaced painted lines on the road to slow drivers down (on a dangerous stretch of road, white lines are painted across the road and as one gets nearer to the dangerous parts of the road, the lines get closer; this gives the visual perception that you are travelling faster than you are and encourages people to slow down.)

x) smell (using aroma to attract customers, eg bakeries, delicatessens, supermarkets, cafes, etc)

xi) subliminal advertising (it is a way of steering people's choices, but does not make their decisions for them; it could be classified as manipulation; some examples:
"...- drink more water
     - aren't you thirsty?
     - don't drink and drive
     - drugs kill
     - abortion is murder..."
Richard Thaler et al, 2021

xii) iron deficiency (in the 1960s in Australia it was identified that many women had iron deficiency. As beef meat is a good source of iron, the beef producers started a campaign to encourage women to eat more beef. However; the highlighting of the iron deficiency resulted in an increase in consumption of iron tablets, not beef eating.)