Thaler and Sunstein's own position is that the anti–nudge position is a literal non–starter, because citizens are always influenced by the decision making context anyway, and nudging is liberty preserving and acceptable if guided by Libertarian Paternalism and Rawls’ publicity principle. A persistent and central tenet in the criticism disputing the acceptability of the approach is that nudging works by manipulating citizens’ choices. In this paper, we argue that both lines of argumentation are seriously flawed. We show how the anti–nudge position is not a literal non–starter due to the responsibilities that accrue on policy–makers by the intentional intervention in citizens’ life, how nudging is not essentially liberty preserving and why the approach is not necessarily acceptable even if satisfying Rawls’ publicity principle. We then use the psychological dual process theory underlying the approach as well as an epistemic transparency criterion identified by Thaler and Sunstein themselves to show that nudging is not necessarily about “manipulation”, nor necessarily about influencing “choice”.

A recent cross-sectional study published in Frontiers in Psychology examined the Xingfa gamification framework and its associations with students' sport motivation and physical fitness across fourteen schools. Conducted by Li Ye-Jun, Zhu D, and Tang X-L, this research investigated how gamification techniques influence students' engagement in physical education by applying Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as the theoretical foundation. The study focused on motivation internalization and psychological needs satisfaction as key outcomes. The research compared sport motivation levels and physical fitness metrics across multiple educational institutions to assess the effectiveness of the Xingfa framework in enhancing student participation and performance in physical activities. This work matters significantly for educational institutions seeking evidence-based approaches to improve physical education outcomes and student engagement through gamified learning experiences. The findings provide insights into how structured gamification strategies can support intrinsic motivation development and psychological well-being in academic settings while promoting healthier, more active lifestyles among students.

Researchers from Lishui University conducted a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to assess self-care intervention effectiveness for type 2 diabetes mellitus in working-age adults. The team searched nine major databases including PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library for randomized controlled trials published between January 2020 and April 2025, ultimately analyzing 47 RCTs involving 6,464 participants aged 18-60 years. Self-care interventions demonstrated significant clinical benefits, reducing hemoglobin A1c levels by 0.26 points, total cholesterol, and body mass index while increasing high-density lipoprotein levels. Notably, interventions substantially improved self-care behaviors and self-efficacy scores. However, no significant improvements were observed in fasting blood glucose or two-hour plasma glucose measurements. The analysis revealed substantial heterogeneity across studies, limiting generalizability. The findings underscore the importance of structured self-care interventions for managing type 2 diabetes in working-age populations facing occupational demands. The authors recommend future trials employ standardized intervention reporting, robust study designs, and extended follow-up periods to strengthen evidence supporting clinical practice and public health policy implementation.

Behavioral economics examines how people actually make decisions about money, time, effort, and risk, contrasting with traditional economic theory's assumption of fully rational actors. The field integrates psychological theory and experimental methods to address classic economic questions about choice, markets, and policy design. Founded on the empirical observation that real decision-makers systematically deviate from idealized rational agents, behavioral economics emerged as a formal discipline in the 1970s through psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky's groundbreaking work on probability judgment and decision-making under uncertainty. Kahneman's 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics—the first awarded to a psychologist—and economist Richard Thaler's 2017 prize for extending behavioral economics into a comprehensive research program marked the field's transition from academic fringe to established subdiscipline. Today, behavioral economics commands significant research funding from institutions including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Russell Sage Foundation. This comprehensive guide, maintained by CASRAI's Editorial Board, covers core concepts, major subfields, research methodologies, and career pathways, providing essential resources for researchers and administrators in the behavioral economics field.

Physical inactivity remains a critical global public health challenge, contributing significantly to non-communicable diseases and premature mortality. Despite awareness of health benefits and guidelines recommending 150 minutes of weekly moderate-intensity activity, approximately one-third of adults fail to meet targets. A key barrier is the intention-behaviour gap, where nearly half of individuals with strong PA intentions do not act on them. Recent research indicates that momentary intention, shaped by contextual and affective factors, drives actual physical activity engagement, suggesting that situational support is essential beyond motivation alone. This paper addresses a significant conceptual gap by defining and structuring guidance in digital health interventions for physical activity support. The authors define guidance as situated, action-oriented support that scaffolds users' embodied engagement in PA. They develop a comprehensive design space characterizing guidance across nine dimensions: scope, purpose, timing, context, modality, embodiment, adaptivity, autonomy, and affective quality. Drawing from behaviour change theory, human-computer interaction, embodied cognition, and digital health literature, this framework provides a structured vocabulary and conceptual foundation. By clarifying guidance and distinguishing it from related constructs such as personalisation, feedback, and persuasion, this work enables more coherent research, meaningful comparisons, and responsible design of digital health interventions for physical activity support.

This article introduces the Nudge Intensity Model, a conceptual framework that positions nudges along a continuum from soft to moderate to hard interventions. Drawing on insights from communication, social and environmental psychology, design, policy studies, and economics, the model clarifies how different forms of nudging exert varying degrees of behavioral influence and how they can be calibrated to context, ethical considerations, and policy goals. Illustrative examples from climate and health interventions demonstrate the need for more deliberate calibration.

This article examines the critical question of policy instrument selection in modern governance. It establishes that governments choose among increasingly diverse tools—ranging from traditional command-and-control regulation to contemporary behavioral nudges—to address public problems, and that this choice fundamentally determines policy success and distributional outcomes. The study of policy tools, pioneered by scholars including Lester Salamon, Christopher Hood, and Anne Schneider, recognizes that instrument selection reflects deeper assumptions about human behavior, state legitimacy, and compliance cost distribution rather than being purely technical decisions. The article introduces a foundational analytical framework: the coercion spectrum, which arranges five primary policy tools (regulation, taxes, subsidies, mandates, and nudges) along a continuum from least to most restrictive of individual choice. This framework reveals a central democratic tension—more coercive instruments typically ensure predictable compliance but invite greater political resistance and enforcement expenses. The distances between tools carry analytical significance, with relatively narrow gaps between voluntary-compliance mechanisms like nudges and subsidies, and smaller intervals between legally compulsory tools. Understanding these distinctions is essential for policymakers evaluating trade-offs in governance effectiveness.

This field experiment, approved by the University of Michigan's Institutional Review Board and preregistered in the AEA RCT Registry (AEARCTR-0018430), investigates how artificial intelligence influences taxpayer compliance behavior. Conducted as a randomized controlled trial, the study examines whether AI-driven interventions—such as personalized communications, algorithmic risk assessments, or automated compliance reminders—affect taxpayer reporting and payment patterns. By analyzing behavioral responses across treatment and control groups, researchers aim to identify which AI-enabled strategies most effectively encourage voluntary tax compliance. The findings have significant policy implications for tax administration, potentially offering cost-effective alternatives to traditional enforcement mechanisms. Understanding how AI shapes taxpayer behavior could inform government revenue strategies and voluntary compliance initiatives. Upon publication, the researchers will release replication code and data publicly, supporting transparency and future research validation in this emerging field at the intersection of behavioral economics, taxation policy, and artificial intelligence applications in public administration.

# Summary This peer-reviewed article published in Acta Politica examines the relationship between U.S. climate policy options and the attitudes of economic elites toward environmental governance. The research investigates how influential members of the economic establishment perceive and respond to various climate policy approaches, providing critical insights into the political economy of climate action at the highest levels of American business and finance. By analyzing elite attitudes alongside policy frameworks, the study illuminates the disconnect that often exists between scientific climate imperatives and elite preferences for market-based or less restrictive regulatory solutions. The findings contribute to understanding why certain climate policies gain traction while others face resistance from powerful economic actors. This work matters significantly for policymakers and analysts seeking to understand the political feasibility of climate legislation and the role elite preferences play in shaping environmental governance trajectories in the United States.

Mindworks, a discovery center and laboratory operated by the University of Chicago's Roman Family Center for Decision Research in downtown Chicago, has reached its fifth anniversary milestone and emerged as a vital hub for behavioral science research. Founded in July 2021, the facility combines free interactive exhibits exploring behavioral science concepts with opportunities for visitors to participate in actual studies conducted by Chicago Booth School of Business researchers. Nearly 85,000 visitors from all 50 states and over 80 countries have visited Mindworks, with more than 38,000 participating in 219 completed studies. Research findings have been published in prestigious journals including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the Journal of Consumer Research. Faculty director Nicholas Epley, a distinguished behavioral scientist studying social cognition, developed Mindworks to address a critical challenge in research: recruiting diverse strangers for studies in real-world settings. The facility distinguishes itself from traditional university labs, which typically rely on student subjects, by attracting a broad demographic. Beyond research, Mindworks has become integral to Chicago's cultural landscape, collaborating with institutions like the Art Institute of Chicago, Color Factory Chicago, WBEZ, and the Goodman Theatre's Theater of the Mind, an immersive experience co-created by David Byrne.

This research addresses the persistent attitude-behavior gap in sustainable consumption by integrating four interconnected behavioral mechanisms into a unified theoretical framework. The study examines dual-system processing, social norm dynamics, choice architecture effects, and the combined impact of temporal discounting with loss aversion on environmental decision-making. The findings demonstrate that sustainable consumption typically requires System 2 cognitive engagement to override automatic consumption patterns, though System 1 can support sustainability once environmental behaviors become habitual. The research reveals complex interactions between descriptive and injunctive norms that sometimes create identity tensions inhibiting behavior change. Additionally, choice architecture significantly influences sustainable decisions through convenience, information presentation, and contextual cues beyond simple default effects. Notably, the study documents an important finding: participants systematically discounted future environmental benefits relative to immediate costs while simultaneously magnifying perceived losses from sustainable choices. This novel integration of temporal discounting and loss aversion as interacting barriers to environmental behavior had not been previously examined within a cohesive behavioral economics framework. These insights suggest intervention strategies should balance immediate decision support with long-term habit formation, while accounting for complex social influences and temporal-loss dynamics in promoting sustained sustainable consumption across diverse demographic and psychographic profiles.

En 2025, 21% des moins de 30 ans arrêtés l’ont ainsi été deux fois dans l’année et 17,5% trois fois ou plus, «un niveau qui dépasse celui de toutes les autres tranches d’âge», constatent les auteurs d’une étude de Malakoff Humanis.

Depuis le mois de février 2026, une mission d’information travaillait au Sénat sur le thème de la souffrance psychique au travail. Constituée à la demande du groupe RDSE, groupe constitué majoritairement de radicaux au Sénat, cette mission n’a pas pu rendre public son rapport, comme c’est pourtant l’habitude au Parlement. En effet, mercredi 8 juillet 2026, la majorité de la droite et du centre s’est opposée aux conclusions de la rapporteure Annick Girardin. Explications.

Missed medical appointments are a costly and persistent problem in healthcare [1-2]. When patients do not attend and do not cancel in advance, time slots go unused, staff time is wasted, and other patients may face longer waits [3-5]. In the UK alone, the National Health Service (NHS) estimates the annual cost of missed general practitioner appointments to be over £216 million [6], while in the United States, missed visits are estimated to cost the health system US$150 billion annually (£112 billion) [7]. Similar patterns appear in low- and middle-income countries; for example, specialty outpatient clinics in Santa Maria, Brazil, reported an average DNA rate of 9.4% from 2016 to 2021, resulting in substantial costs for municipal health budgets [8].

This article examines how the presentation of information fundamentally shapes executive decision-making, challenging the classical economic model of Homo economicus—the perfectly rational decision-maker assumed by Von Neumann and Morgenstern's expected utility theory. Herbert Simon's concept of bounded rationality demonstrated that humans possess finite cognitive resources and incomplete information, forcing reliance on mental shortcuts or heuristics that predictably deviate from classical rationality. The article emphasizes the framing effect, a cognitive bias wherein identical decision problems presented differently—particularly whether outcomes are framed as gains or losses—can reverse strategic preferences despite unchanged expected values. In corporate governance contexts, where executives face Knightian uncertainty with unknowable probabilities, even highly skilled business leaders remain susceptible to epistemic framing: the cognitive, linguistic, and structural scaffolding through which risk and uncertainty are communicated. This framing determines what organizational communities consider actionable or valid, making the presentation of information as consequential as its substance in shaping high-stakes strategic choices.

This study examined how psychological factors influence financial decision-making among Rwandan public and private sector employees. Researchers from Kigali Independent University, Kibogora Polytechnic, and Catholic University of Eastern Africa surveyed 650 employees using a structured questionnaire and analyzed responses through SPSS version 28, applying Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis. The investigation assessed the impact of money attitudes, financial self-control, financial anxiety, and financial confidence on financial behavior, while evaluating financial literacy as a moderating variable. Results demonstrated that all four psychological dimensions significantly predicted financial decision-making, collectively accounting for 55.4% of behavioral variance. Financial confidence emerged as the strongest predictor, followed by self-control, anxiety, and money attitudes. Financial literacy moderated all relationships, though with modest negative effects. The findings suggest that despite stable incomes and improved financial service access, psychological factors substantially influence poor financial outcomes. The research recommends targeted interventions strengthening financial confidence and self-control while promoting healthy money attitudes and reducing financial anxiety through enhanced financial literacy programs.

Researchers developed a data-driven framework using offline reinforcement learning to personalize digital mental health interventions based on individual user characteristics and psychological states. The two-stage RL approach was trained on data from a six-week micro-randomized trial involving 190 participants, optimizing both the timing and type of intervention delivery to maximize improvements in depression, anxiety, and stress scores. Using fitted Q evaluation (FQE) and six off-policy estimators, the learned policy outperformed both standard behavioral policies and rule-based alternatives. The framework revealed clinically meaningful patterns, including recommending interventions when users retained psychological resources and assigning high value to positive-psychology content even during lower-distress periods—findings aligned with the Broaden-and-Build theory of emotional resilience. Rather than uniform content delivery, this approach enables personalized, explainable intervention rules. The research, funded by South Korea's National Research Foundation and Health Industry Development Institute, provides a hypothesis-generating foundation for prospective validation of adaptive mental health interventions tailored to individual needs.

In recent years the concepts of ‘nudge’ and ‘libertarian paternalism’ have become popular theoretical as well as practical concepts inside as well as outside academia. But in spite of the widespread interest, confusion reigns as to what exactly is to be regarded as a nudge and how the underlying approach to behaviour change relates to libertarian paternalism. This article sets out to improve the clarity and value of the definition of nudge by reconciling it with its theoretical foundations in behavioural economics. In doing so it not only explicates the relationship between nudges and libertarian paternalism, but also clarifies how nudges relate to incentives and information, and may even be consistent with the removal of certain types of choices. In the end we are left with a revised definition of the concept of nudge that allows for consistently categorising behaviour change interventions as such and that places them relative to libertarian paternalism.

Most organisations claim to be customer-centric, yet few genuinely operate as such. This guide from Renascence distinguishes between superficial customer-centricity—represented by mission statements and NPS dashboards—and authentic organisational practice rooted in decision-making culture. True customer centricity functions as an operating model rather than a value statement, structuring decisions, processes, metrics, and culture around customer needs rather than internal convenience. The article clarifies that customer centricity differs fundamentally from customer service functions or satisfaction metrics; organisations can maintain friendly staff while operating broken processes that drive customer attrition. Effective customer-centricity requires three simultaneous components, with most organisations implementing only one or two. The commercial case for this approach rests on established marketing economics: retaining existing customers costs substantially less than acquiring new ones, a principle documented through Frederick Reichheld's loyalty research at Bain & Company and contemporary retention studies. This framework demonstrates that closing the gap between organisational rhetoric and operational reality determines whether customer centricity succeeds or fails under commercial pressure.

This peer-reviewed research article published in Frontiers examines the critical relationship between climate change adaptation and investment decisions at the farm level. The study investigates how agricultural producers respond to climate threats through capital investments in adaptive infrastructure and practices. Using empirical analysis of farm-level data, the research identifies key factors influencing farmer adoption of climate adaptation strategies, including economic viability, access to credit, technological availability, and risk perception. The findings reveal significant variations in adaptation investment across different farm types and geographic regions, with smaller operations facing particular financial constraints. The research demonstrates that successful adaptation requires coordinated support including financial incentives, technical assistance, and policy frameworks that facilitate long-term investment planning. This work matters substantially for agricultural policy development and climate resilience planning, as farm-level adaptation investments are essential for maintaining productivity and food security amid increasing climate variability and extreme weather events. The insights contribute to understanding how to effectively mobilize agricultural sector engagement in climate adaptation efforts.