Kerala's electoral victory 2021: Has the politics of behavioural nudging paid off?

• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Author: Sujathan Pandamangalam Kalam,Prasad Mavumkal George,Azad Parambengal,Jins Varkey
• Date: 01 December 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2798

COMMENTARY

Kerala's electoral victory 2021: Has the politics of behavioural

nudging paid off?

Sujathan Pandamangalam Kalam

1

| Prasad Mavumkal George

2

|

Azad Parambengal

3

| Jins Varkey

4

1

Department of Economics, KKTM

Government College, Trissur,

Kerala, India

2

Department of Economics, RGM Government

College, Palakkad,

Kerala, India

3

Department of Economics, M.E.S Kalladi

College, Mannarkkad,

Kerala, India

4

Department of Economics, St. Alosys College,

Thrissur, Kerala, India

Correspondence

P.Azad, M.E.S Kalladi College, Mannarkkad,

Kerala.

Email: azad4bin@gmail.com

This article contends that the ruling government in Kerala state of India drew insights

from a powerful policy tool viz behavioural nudging which in turn influenced the vot-

ing behaviour of Keralites enabling the government to retain power again. This was

made possible by the Left Democratic Front Government of the State by applying

and carrying out seven principles of behavioural nudging among the people effica-

ciously. Using qualitative naturalistic observation method, the paper concludes that

both political and welfare mileage was leveraged out of it to the best advantage of

the government as well as the citizens. To date, there is a serious dearth of evidence

on the political economy of nudging in a behavioural context. This article attempts to

fill the gap in this regard.

KEYWORDS

electoral victory, Kerala, nudging, public policy, welfare

1|INTRODUCTION

Nudge economics began to attract serious deliberations and signifi-

cant reflections everywhere in the year 2008 during which two events

occurred. Firstly, the landmark book viz ‘Nudge: Improving Decisions

About Health, Wealth and Happiness’of Richard Thaler and Cass

Sunstein got published. Secondly, the world was riddled with an ava-

lanche of financial crisis. These two episodes were concomitant exer-

cises and were never disembowelled of each other. It is because the

economic world was built on financial markets made of bubbles,

which went bust since the year 2007. At this juncture, nudge econom-

ics came to the fore and exposed the danger lurking behind model

building which composed enormous amount of rational factors.

Nudge, however, insisted that human beings were used to be irratio-

nal and hence were to prone to having mistakes. Krugman (2009)

pointed out that economists should shun the presumption that every-

body is rational and markets always perform perfectly. Sunstein (2015)

remarked that nudge economics enhances the freedom of individuals

by helping them to fine-tune their life choices which provide highest

benefit to them. The bottom line, therefore, is that nudge composed

these insights in such ways which could be easily comprehended and

applied by politicians and policy makers. Nudge theory and nudging,

in the recent years, began to appear considerably in the policy

discourse (Brans et al. 2018). Accordingly, it gave a significant shift in

economic thinking keeping behavioural nudging at the centrepiece of

economic theory. Thus, nudge provided an enabling opportunity for a

case to case contemplation from all spheres of social sciences (Legget

2014, Anderson, 2010). As such, governmental use and sway of nudge

economics grew rapidly. Nudge theory, therefore, became a vehement

policy instrument at the disposal of researchers and practioners and

that the literature on nudge policies started to grow simultaneously

(Bogliancino et al 2016). In 2017, Thaler was awarded Nobel Prize in

Economic Sciences and in the year 2018, Sunstein was awarded Hol-

berg Prize by the Norwegian government.

Having said so, some pertinent questions prop up; what are the

ways and means by which nudging, as a behavioural tool, can be

applied in various contexts? Is there any Government in any country

or state, which by virtue of nudging technique, could leverage and

influence the voters in a socially desirable manner so that it could be

back to power again? Are there any historical, political and administra-

tive dimensions to it? What is the political economy of nudging in a

democratic set up? This paper attempts to answer these questions.

A cursory look unravels that Kerala, a tiny southern state of India,

stood aloof and absorbed and applied nudge technique in a pragmatic

political context and instrument viz election through which the same

government was re-elected to power for another span of 5 years. This

Received: 17 June 2021 Revised: 8 November 2021 Accepted: 16 November 2021

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2798

J Public Affairs. 2022;22(Suppl. 1):e2798. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1of7

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2798