Will Nudge Come To Shove?

It is crucial that nudge as a tool is used meticulously for political canvassing

- Swasti Pachauri

RICHARD THALER won the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in behavioural economics in October 2017. His book, written along with legal scholar Cass Sunstein, on the Nudge Theory has influenced policy and found resonance in the present-day data-driven political advertising and management.

Big data presents to us a new gold mine that helps us map emotions, forecast preferences, and assess psychological and voter histories. The recent Cambridge Analytica-Facebook controversy points to the fragility and porosity in data security and privacy. Security gaps subjected data of more than 50 million users to great risks. Such information breach can allow companies, individuals and parties to analyse data for electoral harvest, all without informing the voter, or at best with subtle disclaimers.

Ever since the Nudge was institutionalised in 2009 and the Behavioural Insights Team set up in the United Kingdom in 2010, emerging economies have been working towards incorporating the principles of nudge into public policy formulation. niti Aayog also proposed to establish its Nudge unit in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission aims to mobilise behavioral change towards cleanliness. Similarly, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, which provides lpg on subsidy, hopes to shift consumer behaviour towards an ecofriendly option.

The positive nudge