MINDSPACE grows up – behavioural economics in government | The Institute for Government

the IFG publication charts ... are always topped by MINDSPACE – our guide to applying behavioural insights to policy... has attracted much overseas interest and has even inspired the establishment of a unit in the intellectual home of 'nudge' - the US... are people right to be concerned about the increasing interest of governments in applying behavioural insights to policy?...
Looking at some of the areas tackled by the Behavioural Insights Team ... hard to see what the problem is.... The big mistake the detractors make is to assume these are areas where government can be a neutral non-actor. But that is rarely the case.. Applying behavioural insights – and testing their impact – is simply a way of making policy design more than the accidental result of someone’s hunch
some rules and safeguards – government shouldn’t make up social norms, for instance, or mislead people for a secondary purpose, however worthwhile. And it needs to be transparent about its goals.