Nudge by Richard H. Thaler
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler – Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness – is a book from the book club. I didn’t know anything about the authors before reading it. I found it at the library and read part of it before returning it and finishing it as an e-book.
Nudge is the book about decision-making, choices and how small adjustments can influence us to make better ones. I liked the book, but it was very American-centric, which some of the topics were not relevant, such as the health insurance chapter. Others made me think of how badly the views are in the US on money – such as using mostly credit cards and not debit cards. Also the comments on mortgages raised a few questions for me.
While the book is about nudges, I think it should have had clearer examples and a greater emphasis on small nudges. For example, the idea of parents nudging their children is completely missing from the book. Also, there is a lot on the problems, but the nudge part is at the end, barely mentioned. Some of the subjects are too complicated to be solved with nudges – such as climate change – so I think a more balanced approach of some big topics and some small topics would have been better. Overall it is a good book and I am happy that I read it. I just wish the nudge part was a bigger, with more examples.
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler
Details about the picture: I realised after returning that I didn’t take a picture, as I assumed, so I made a graphic instead of a pic of the book
My rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes-ish
Published by: Penguin Books
Year it was published: 2009 [first published in 2008]
Format: Paperback
Genre(s): Pshychology
Pages: 306
About the author: Richard H. Thaler is an American economist who was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics.
He is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, where he is the director of the Center for Decision Research. He is also the co-director (with Robert Shiller) of the Behavioral Economics Project at the National Bureau of Economic Research and in 2015 was the president of the American Economic Association. He has been published in several prominent journals and is the author of a number of books, including Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics.
Cass Robert Sunstein is an American legal scholar known for his work in U.S. constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and behavioral economics. He is also The New York Times best-selling author of The World According to Star Wars and Nudge.
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This is not a book that would interest me. And even here, not all the topics would be relevant for everyone. Money matters can vary greatly depending on one’s circumstances. Personally, I prefer a credit card over debit cards. That said, I’ve never carried a balance (or paid fees) on a credit card.
Kelly recently posted…Bleak House by Charles Dickens
My view is that credit cards are good for more expensive purchases. We have one that we use for ££ things, to get the extra insurance that comes with a credit card purchase. I was surprised that he had to explain what a debit card is, which is the most common way of paying for stuff in the UK (more popular than cash or credit cards).