Self-nudging is more ethical, but less efficient than social nudging
Manipulating choice architectures to achieve social ends ('social nudges') raises problems of ethicality. Giving individuals control over their default choice ('selfnudges') is a possible remedy, but the trade-offs with efficiency are poorly understood. We examine under four diff...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Book/Monograph Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Heidelberg
Heidelberg University, Department of Economics
05 Mai 2023
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| Edition: | This version: April 25, 2023 |
| Series: | AWI discussion paper series
no. 726 (April 2023) |
| In: |
AWI discussion paper series (no. 726 (April 2023))
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| DOI: | 10.11588/heidok.00033230 |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/33230/1/Diederich_et_al_2023_dp726.pdf Resolving-System, kostenfrei: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn=urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-332307 Resolving-System, kostenfrei: https://doi.org/10.11588/heidok.00033230 Resolving-System, kostenfrei: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-332307 Langzeitarchivierung Nationalbibliothek, kostenfrei: https://d-nb.info/1288358369/34 Verlag, kostenfrei: http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/archiv/33230 Resolving-System, kostenfrei: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/278454 
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| Author Notes: | Johannes Diederich, Timo Goeschl, Israel Waichman |
| Summary: | Manipulating choice architectures to achieve social ends ('social nudges') raises problems of ethicality. Giving individuals control over their default choice ('selfnudges') is a possible remedy, but the trade-offs with efficiency are poorly understood. We examine under four different information structures how subjects set own defaults in social dilemmas and whether outcomes differ between the self-nudge and two exogenous defaults, a social (full cooperation) and a selfish (perfect free-riding) nudge. Subjects recruited from the general population (n = 1,080) play a ten-round, ten-day voluntary contribution mechanism online, with defaults triggered by the absence of an active contribution on the day. We find that individuals' own choice of defaults structurally differs from full cooperation, empirically affirming the ethicality problem of social nudges. Allowing for self-nudges instead of social nudges reduces efficiency at the group level, however. When individual control over nudges is non-negotiable, self-nudges need to be made public to minimize the ethicality-efficiency trade-off. |
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| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| DOI: | 10.11588/heidok.00033230 |