eprintid: 33230
rev_number: 19
eprint_status: archive
userid: 3730
dir: disk0/00/03/32/30
datestamp: 2023-05-05 11:07:22
lastmod: 2024-02-09 14:36:38
status_changed: 2023-05-05 11:07:22
type: workingPaper
succeeds: 31339
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Diederich, Johannes
creators_name: Goeschl, Timo
creators_name: Waichman, Israel
title: Self-nudging is more ethical, but less efficient than social nudging
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-181000
keywords: choice architecture , defaults , choice architecture , public goods , self-nudge , online experiment , nudging , behavioral economics
abstract: Manipulating choice architectures to achieve social ends (‘social nudges’) raises problems of ethicality. Giving individuals control over their default choice (‘selfnudges’) is a possible remedy, but the trade-offs with efficiency are poorly understood. We examine under four different information structures how subjects set own defaults in social dilemmas and whether outcomes differ between the self-nudge and two exogenous defaults, a social (full cooperation) and a selfish (perfect free-riding) nudge. Subjects recruited from the general population (n = 1,080) play a ten-round, ten-day voluntary contribution mechanism online, with defaults triggered by the absence of an active contribution on the day. We find that individuals’ own choice of defaults structurally differs from full cooperation, empirically affirming the ethicality problem of social nudges. Allowing for self-nudges instead of social nudges reduces efficiency at the group level, however. When individual control over nudges is non-negotiable, self-nudges need to be made public to minimize the ethicality-efficiency trade-off.
date: 2023-04
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00033230
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0726
ppn_swb: 1844742180
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-332307
language: eng
bibsort: DIEDERICHJSELFNUDGIN20220221
full_text_status: public
series: Discussion Paper Series / University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
volume: 0726
place_of_pub: Heidelberg
pages: 30
edition: Zweite Auflage
citation:   Diederich, Johannes ; Goeschl, Timo ; Waichman, Israel  (2023) Self-nudging is more ethical, but less efficient than social nudging.  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/33230/1/Diederich_et_al_2023_dp726.pdf