“Smart” Government Discourse through a Behavioral Economics Lens

• Date: 01 September 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12275
• Published date: 01 September 2014
• Author: Dongjae Jung

676 Public Administration Review • September | October 2014

with what policy results (chapter 1). In chapter 2,

Sunstein introduces some key terms underlying behav-

ioral economics–based individual decision making,

such as “choice architecture,” def‌i ned as “the design

of the social environment in a way that inf‌l uences

people’s choices” (37), and “nudges,” or “approaches

that inf‌l uence decisions while preserving freedom of

choice” (38). Based on these terms, the author argues

that choice architects “nudge people” (37), thereby

bringing about policy changes “without forcing anyone

to do anything” (41).  ese concepts will be famil-

iar to many policy scholars and practitioners, given

Sunstein’s and sometime coauthor Richard  aler’s

previous works, but they are situated in useful

context here.

Focusing on inherent human irrationality in deci-

sion making—the failure of good decision making

because of “hyperbole discounting” of the (long-term)

future (56–57)—in chapter 3, Sunstein argues for

“simple and clear approaches” (57) to achieving policy

aims through behavioral change. Examples include

automatic enrollment and otherwise defaulting into

desirable programs rather than often laborious “opt-in”

requirements. Understanding basic behaviors that

af‌f ect judgment and decision making, including loss

aversion, availability bias, and framing ef‌f ects, can be

helpful in reducing the “behavioral market failures”

(72) that bring about bad policy outcomes. With

similar nuanced attention to human irrationality when

making choices, in chapter 6, Sunstein calls atten-

tion to how people commonly fail to recognize many

important events in their everyday lives because of lack

of salience (which Sunstein terms the “invisible gorilla”

ef‌f ect).  e path to better policy outcomes, as outlined

here: “behaviorally informed” policy interventions into

daily life, reliant on understanding social inf‌l uence and

related dynamics in social relationships (136–42).

Across chapters 2, 3, and 6, Sunstein persuasively

argues that the choices people make in their everyday

lives are inherently limited and irrational because of

cognitive biases. Relevant and timely policy tools,

Cass R. Sunstein, Simpler:  e Future of Govern-

ment (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013). 272 pp.

$26.00 (cloth), ISBN: 9781476726595; $16.00

(paper), ISBN: 9781476726601.

Many are the scholarly debates about the

future of public administration and policy

making—and, specif‌i cally, what role(s)

government should play in the ef‌f ort to enhance public

governance. Fast-changing socioeconomic contexts

and expanding global interactions, shifting institutions

(e.g., social rules and norms), and clashing cultures

require governments to take on more multidimen-

sional roles and actions for dealing with complex pol-

icy problems.  is changing environment inside and

outside government is logically and contextually con-

nected with how policy makers make policy choices

and devise prescriptions to address policy problems.

With this dynamically changing policy environment

and shifting government roles, attention to behavioral

economics as an alternative paradigm for understand-

ing (and inf‌l uencing) policy making and governance

has continuously increased since the 1990s.

Simpler:  e Future of Government, an important new

book from Cass R. Sunstein, a key f‌i gure in advanc-

ing the behavioral economics perspective both in

policy scholarship and in government practice, focuses

on understanding policy decisions. Among other

contributions, the book suggests how a more desirable

future of government might prof‌i tably be understood

and discussed (54).

Sunstein’s book consists of two parts: inherent human

characteristics and irrationality in making choices

(chapters 2, 3, and 6) and policy approaches and

perspectives for better policy making and changes

using the behavioral economics framework (chapters 4,

5, 7, 8, 9, and 10). As the administrator of the Of‌f‌i ce

of Information and Regulatory Af‌f airs during the

f‌i rst Obama administration (2009–2012), the author

directly inf‌l uenced how government policy, especially

regulatory policy, was conceived and implemented,

“Smart” Government Discourse through a Behavioral

Economics Lens

Sonia M. Ospina and Rogan Kersh, Editors

Dongjae Jung

Arizona State University

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 74, Iss. 5, pp. 676–678. © 2014 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12275.

Dongjae Jung is a doctoral candidate

in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona

State University and a Transactional

Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)

fellow at Syracuse University. His research

broadly touches on public policy analysis

and policy change, stability, success, and

failure dynamics in the policy process.

His substantive research focuses on U.S.

immigration politics and policy making in

terms of intergovernmental relations and

the evaluation of internal immigration

enforcement policy and related immigration

administrative programs.

E-mail: djung2@asu.edu