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
Richard Thaler writes papers that are full of common sense." Since 1991, Thaler is also the co-director of the National Bureau of Economic Research Behavioral Economics Project. Thaler was also involved in the establishment of the Behavioural Insights Team, originally part of the British Government's Cabinet Office but is now a limited company. Thaler made a cameo appearance as himself in the 2015 movie "The Big Short", which was about the credit and housing bubble collapse that led to the 2008 global financial crisis. During one of the film's expository scenes he helped pop star Selena Gomez explain the 'hot hand fallacy,'