Can Democratic States Trust the 'The Behavioral Code'?

Abstract

This short paper provides a review of the book "The Behavioral Code" and highlights the challenges it addresses. The review focuses on both descriptive and normative aspects. Descriptively, the paper examines the challenge of predicting the effects of diverse regulatory interventions. Normatively, it explores the difficulty of determining the appropriate balance between various regulatory approaches, even when the effects of a specific intervention on a particular behavior are known. Consequently, understanding how different regulatory approaches can be combined to achieve optimal outcomes becomes crucial.

To tackle these challenges, this paper proposes the trade-off approach, drawing from the forthcoming book titled "Can States Trust the Public." The trade-off approach offers a means to address the uncertainty surrounding the multitude of available regulatory approaches, recognizing that some approaches have the potential to cause harm in specific contexts. By employing such approach, policymakers can navigate this uncertainty and strike a balance that maximizes the desired outcomes while mitigating potential damages.

Keywords: Nudge, Behavioral Public Policy, Regulation, Compliance, Trust