Behavioral economics nudge is a microtargetted design geared towards a specific group of people, irrespective of the scale of intended intervention. In 2008, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's book "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness" brought nudge theory to prominence. It also gained a following among US and UK politicians, in the private sector and in public health. The authors refer to influencing behaviour without coercion as libertarian paternalism and the influencers as choice architects. Thaler and Sunstein defined their concept as: In this form, drawing on behavioral economics, the nudge is more generally applied to influence behaviour. One of
Cass Sunstein Sunstein on September 10, 2009 in a 57–40 vote. In his research on risk regulation, Sunstein is known for developing, together with Timur Kuran, the concept of availability cascades, wherein popular discussion of an idea is self-feeding and causes individuals to over weigh its importance. Sunstein's books include "After the Rights Revolution" (1990), "The Partial Constitution" (1993), "Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech" (1993), "Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict" (1996), "Free Markets and Social Justice" (1997), "One Case at a Time" (1999), "Risk and Reason" (2002), "Why Societies Need Dissent" (2003), "Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle" (2005),