NUDGE: IMPROVING DECISIONS ABOUT HEALTH, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein Penguin Books, 2009, 312 pp, ISBN 978-0-14-311526-7This book is best described formally as a general explanation of and advocacy for libertarian paternalism, a term coined by the authors in earlier publications. Informally, it is about how leaders, systems, organizations, and governments can nudge people to do the things the nudgers want and need done for the betterment of the nudgees, or of society. It is paternalism in the sense that "it is legitimate for choice architects to try to influence people's behavior in order to make their lives longer, healthier, and better", (p. 5) It is libertarian in that "people should be free to do what they like - and to opt out of undesirable arrangements if they want to do so", (p. 5) The built-in possibility of opting out or making a different choice preserves freedom of choice even though people's behavior has been influenced by the nature of the presentation of the information or by the structure of the decisionmaking system. I had never heard of libertarian paternalism before reading this book, and I now find it fascinating.Written for a general audience, this book contains mostly social and behavioral science theory and models, but there is considerable discussion of structure and process that has roots in mathematical and quantitative modeling. One of the main applications of this social system is economic choice in investing, selecting and purchasing products and services, systems of taxes, banking (mortgages, borrowing, savings), and retirement systems. Other quantitative social choice systems discussed include environmental effects, health care plans, gambling, and organ donations. Softer issues that are also subject to a nudge-based approach are marriage, education, eating, drinking, smoking, influence, spread of information, and politics. There is something in this book for everyone.The basis for this libertarian paternalism concept is in the social theory called "science of choice", the study of the design and implementation of influence systems on various kinds of people. The terms Econs and Humans, are used to refer to people with either considerable or little rational decision-making talent, respectively. The various libertarian paternalism concepts and systems presented are tested and compared in light of these two types of people. Two foundational issues that this book has in common with another book, Network of Echoes: Imitation, Innovation and Invisible Leaders, that was also reviewed for this issue of the Journal are that 1 ) there are two modes of thinking (or components of the brain) - an automatic (intuitive) process and a reflective (rational) process and 2) the need for conformity and the desire for imitation are powerful forces in human behavior. …

Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India. By Kanchan Chandra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 368p. $80.00. In the post-9/11 world where the “clash of civilizations” has moved beyond classroom debates to the public realm, it is refreshing, and challenging, to see a study that does not give ethnicity an easy ride. The title of this book is slightly misleading, though, because even while it concedes that appeals for political support on the basis of ethnic categories based on “race, caste, tribe or religion” (p. 2) are frequently made, sometimes with considerable success, it asserts that such tactics do not always succeed. When they do, it is not necessarily because of their putative appeal to sentiments but, instead, because both ethnic candidates and their supporters, rather than being swayed by appeals to their nonrational selves, are actually driven by sophisticated calculations of expected gain. Their utility calculus takes the size of the ultimate prize as well as the probability of winning it into account when they choose to align themselves with one set of politicians as opposed to another. Kanchan Chandra's parsimonious and general model explains why ethic parties in India, riding on Hindu or, for that matter, Tamil nationalism, succeed in some contexts but not in others.

Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India

Some people may be laughing when looking at you reading in your spare time. Some may be admired of you. And some may want be like you who have reading hobby. What about your own feel? Have you felt right? Reading is a need and a hobby at once. This condition is the on that will make you feel that you must read. If you know are looking for the book enPDFd the transit metropolis a global inquiry as the choice of reading, you can find here.

/pdf/the-transit-metropolis-a-global-inquiry-4r5hiuv2u8.pdf

The transit metropolis: a global inquiry

There is a quotation attributed to Joseph Goebbels that has haunted me: "When I hear the world 'culture' I reach for my revolver." The attribution may be erroneous, but it is appropriate. Certainly Thomas Mann and the members of the Frankfurt School who found refuge in the United States after Adolph Hitler's ascension to power accepted as an obligation the maintenance and continuance of a German culture untainted by the populist state racism of National Socialism. Such a polar opposition between state and culture would have appalled Matthew Arnold, who desired to recruit the state as a servant of Culture. The enemy of Culture was Anarchy, defined as Doing as One Likes--the One being the selfish self, the sectarian self, the class self, the provincial self, even when used for the "mere glorification by ourselves of ourselves," the national self. All are subjective projections of will in the service of self-interest. This may set them in opposition to an objective whole arrived at by informed judgment, but they are selves that find representation in a democracy. In other words, Arnold is using the label Anarchy as a pejorative term for Democracy viewed only as a jostling of factional wills in an endless power struggle. It is acceptable rhetoric in an open society to so load terms, to refer to the Christians and gentlemen on our side in opposition to the fanatics and rascals on the other. Arnold put forward his Culture not as a phenomenon to be scientifically studied but as a concept to be individually embraced and institutionally embodied. If the State is to be recruited as an ally in upholding in society an equitable and balanced institutional support for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, the State must be weaned from the belief that it is only an instrument of the temporarily dominant portion of the will of the people. Arnold's "disinterestedness" meant a refusal to become preoccupied with tactics and machinery in order to focus on grand strategy and the determination of suitable ends. It did not mean a withdrawal out of the race, however much, as E.K. Brown has pointed out, a fugitive and cloistered virtue might be a temptation--as appears in such poems as "Stanzas From The Grande Chartreuse." However, determining suitable ends did mean recognizing that the Platonic triad that ideally was the content of culture was, for historical reasons, split. Europe had taken from its Judeo-Christian beliefs the disciplining of the will required for the Good. From its Graeco-Roman origins Europe had taken the intellectual training needed for the pursuit of the objective rational light of Truth, and the aesthetic standards of Beauty. Ideally the Hebraic and Hellenistic components should form a mutually beneficial balance, but historically they had rather tended to alternating distortions. Arnold agreed with what Edmund Burke had told the electors of Bristol: "Government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination," and he hoped for government support for Culture. However, this could only happen if the dominant middle classes could be cured of their excessive Hebraism and provinciality and led to accept Culture as an overriding objective standard alien to class or other anarchist likes or inclinations. But difficulties remain, which I can best illustrate by using the Arnoldean technique of juxtaposition, in an example from my own country. In July 1963 the then Prime Minister of Canada, Lester B. Pearson, established a Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, consisting of ten commissioners with Andre Laurendeau and Davidson Dunton as co-chairmen. After a Preliminary Report in 1965, the Commission produced a Report of six books in five volumes, 1967-1970. The first book contained a General Introduction, written by Andre Laurendeau and printed on blue paper, devoted to defining the key terms, one of which was culture. After noting that there were many definitions current, Laurendeau gave the definition of culture the Commission would use: . …

Culture and Democracy

The roots of the University of California go back to the gold rush days of 1849,when the drafters of the State Constitution,a group of vigorous and farsighted people,required the legislature to "encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual,scientific,moral and agricultural improvement"of the people of California.These early

The University of California,Berkeley

As of April 2020, it had been nearly 100 days since the first COVID-19 case was found in India, and a 3-week lockdown across the country was enforced to implement social distancing as a measure to contain the spread of the virus. India has combated a few epidemics in the past, from which health policy and epidemic response have been refined. However, there are likely to be religious, spiritual, and social dimensions of individual response to such measures that could put these policy efforts at risk. We outline a set of behavioral interventions taking into account potential cultural correlates specific to India. In order to mitigate the increasing spread of COVID-19 in India, policymakers can consider incorporating these elements when designing communication and prevention strategies. We argue that such interventions might ensure that behaviour change is sustained even after the formal lockdown period.

Go Corona Go! Cultural beliefs and social norms in India during COVID-19

Sanitation policies in India have primarily focused on infrastructure development, through building latrines and toilets. Given the persistence of open defecation in India despite such effo...

“Sacred nudging” and sanitation decisions in India

In 2016, two high-value currency notes were withdrawn from circulation in India (popularly known as the ‘demonetization’ policy). Data from the Reserve Bank of India shows that currency in circulat...

Demand for cash: an econometric model of currency demand in India

https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/214062/1/01_Jha_Jati%252C_Local_Public_Goods_and_2019.pdf

Jati, Local Public Goods and Village Governance: Private Actions and Public Outcomes

In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, several countries implemented lockdown procedures to varying degrees This article sought to examine the extent to which country-level strictness, as measured by the Government Response Stringency Index (2020), moderated the relationship between certain cultural dimensions and estimates of national innovation Data on 84 countries were collated for Hofstede's cultural dimensions (2015), and from the Global Innovation Index (2020) Owing to the robust relationships between innovation and the dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and individualism, these were used in moderation analyses In general, power distance was inversely related to innovation, whereas individualism was directly related to it Results indicated that collectivist and high power distance countries showed lower innovation, irrespective of levels of government stringency as a response to COVID-19 On the other hand, among individualistic and low power distance countries, lower innovation was associated with increased stringency (eg, blanket restrictions on movement) Higher innovation was observed when such countries had a less severe government response The dimension of uncertainty avoidance was not significantly associated with innovation at the country level The implications of lockdowns on general innovation, its inputs, and outputs are discussed in the context of cultural dimensions and country-level policies

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Anirudh Tagat

Papers

Go Corona Go! Cultural beliefs and social norms in India during COVID-19

“Sacred nudging” and sanitation decisions in India

Demand for cash: an econometric model of currency demand in India

Jati, Local Public Goods and Village Governance: Private Actions and Public Outcomes

Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships