Cass Sunstein
12 key ideas across 2 books, each explained in our own words.
Noise
- IDEA 1
Bias and noise are different
Bias is judgements consistently off in one direction. Noise is unwanted scatter: different experts, or the same expert on different days, giving different answers to the same case.
- IDEA 2
Noise is everywhere
Insurance quotes, sentencing and hiring decisions vary wildly between people looking at identical files. Organisations rarely measure it, so they rarely see it.
- IDEA 3
Run a noise audit
Give several people the same cases independently and compare answers. The spread shows how much of your decision-making is a lottery.
Nudge
- IDEA 1
Choice architecture
How options are presented shapes what people pick. There is no neutral design, so design deliberately.
- IDEA 2
Defaults are powerful
Most people stick with the default option. Making the better choice the default, like automatic pension enrolment, changes outcomes at scale.
- IDEA 3
Libertarian paternalism
You can steer people toward better choices while still leaving them free to opt out.
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