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 Thaler was offered a position at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business in 1995, where he has taught ever since. Thaler has written a number of books intended for a lay reader on the subject of behavioral economics, including "Quasi-rational Economics" and "The Winner's Curse", the latter of which contains many of his "Anomalies" columns revised and adapted for a popular audience. One of his recurring themes is that market-based approaches are incomplete: he is quoted as saying, "conventional economics assumes that people are highly-rational—super-rational—and unemotional. They can calculate like a computer and have no self-control problems." Thaler