Articles Economics of Consumption, Welfare and Society (UEC22306)
Summarized articles:
Lecture 1b & 10a: Behavioral economics and policy making – part ½
Amir, O., Ariely, D., Cooke, A., Dunning, D., Epley, N., Gneezy, U., . . . Silva, J. (2005).
Psychology, behavioral economics, and public policy. Marketing Letters, 16, 443–454.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-005-5904-2
Antonides, G. (2011). Behavioral economics applied: Suggestions for policy making. In P. R.
Martin, F. M. Cheung, M. C. Knowles, M. Kyrios, L. Littlefield, J. B. Overmier, & J. M.
Prieto (Eds.), The IAAP Handbook of Applied Psychology (pp. 500–524). WileyBlackwell.
Stroeker, N. E. (2016). An overview of behavioral economics in Dutch policy making. The next
step: How to nudge policy makers? Apstract, 10, 27–32.
https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.250216
Lecture 2: Care
Rammelt, C. (2020, October 8 ). Degrowth in the Netherlands: An overview [Blog post].
Retrieved from https://www.postwachstum.de/degrowth-in-the-netherlands-anoverview-20201008.
D’Alisa, G., Deriu, M., & Demaria, F. (2014). Care. In G. D’Alisa, F. Demaria, & G. Kallis, (Eds.),
Degrowth: A vocabulary for a new era (pp. 63–66). London: Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203796146
Dombroski, K., Healy, S., & McKinnon, K. (2019). Care-full community economies. In C.
Bauhardt & W. Harcourt (Eds.), Feminist political ecology and the economics of care:
In search of economic alternatives (pp. 99-115). London: Routledge.
Lecture 3: Moral economies
Wheeler, K. (2019). Moral economies of consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 19, 271– 288.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540517729007
Deriu, M. (2014). Conviviality. In G. D’Alisa, F. Demaria, & G. Kallis, (Eds.), Degrowth: A vocabulary for
a new era (pp. 79–82). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203796146
Kennedy, M. (2020). A Slow Food commons: Cultivating conviviality across a range of property forms.
In J. K. Gibson-Graham, & K. Dombroski, (Eds.), The Handbook of Diverse Economies (pp. 308–315).
Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lecture 9: Degrowth and the meaning of good life
Muraca, B. (2012). Towards a fair degrowth-society: Justice and the right to a ‘good life’ beyond
growth. Futures, 44, 535–545
, 1.1 Amir et al. (2005) - Psychology, behavioral economics, and
public policy
Traditionally policy makers use the traditional preek, wortel en stok as policy interventions to change
behavior.
Preek refers to informative instruments to influence the social norm such as flyers or a
communication campaign for the public.
Wortel refers to economic instruments such as financial compensation or a subsidy
Stok refers to regulative instruments with a compulsory character such as penalties or less
financial payments.
Nudge= an intervention based on behavioral science knowledge, trying to change people’s behavior
in a predictable way without forbidding options or to influence behavior based on economic
incentives. A nudge should be easy to avoid. A nudge can also affect people’s behavior without them
being aware of the nudge. Responds to unconscious behavioral processes and gives a nudge in the
right direction without coercion or exclusion of alternatives.
Advice from the government concerning the next step
1) Use knowledge from behavioral economics in the entire process of policy making
2) Opt for policy making based on research and practical experience through policy evaluations (ex-
post) and empirical testing in advance (ex-ante)
3) Be transparent on the use of nudges
4) Take care of the impact of policy on the choice pressure that people experience by making this
experienced choice pressure feel lighter.
5) Ensure a structural integration of behavioral science knowledge in policy
The next important steps are:
- To nudge the policy makers to use the behavioral economics toolbox including the five
instruments of the IAK (integrated decision making framework)
- To obtain the support of (top)management in ministries and within the entire ministry (top-down
and bottom-up)
- To integrate a broad behavioral scientific perspective in the design of ex-ante and ex-post
evaluations
These are important next steps to ensure a structural integration of behavioral science
knowledge in policy making and evaluation.
1.2 Antonides, G. (2011) - Behavioral economics applied:
Suggestions for policy making
What is behavioral economics?
Behavioral economics= the combination of psychology and economics that investigates what
happens in which some of the agents display human limitations and complications. In doing so,
behavioral economics studies the ways in which behavior differs from the standard economic model
to improve the explanation of economic behavior.
Endowment effect= people value the loss of an item more negatively than they value the gain of such
an item positively.
Summarized articles:
Lecture 1b & 10a: Behavioral economics and policy making – part ½
Amir, O., Ariely, D., Cooke, A., Dunning, D., Epley, N., Gneezy, U., . . . Silva, J. (2005).
Psychology, behavioral economics, and public policy. Marketing Letters, 16, 443–454.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-005-5904-2
Antonides, G. (2011). Behavioral economics applied: Suggestions for policy making. In P. R.
Martin, F. M. Cheung, M. C. Knowles, M. Kyrios, L. Littlefield, J. B. Overmier, & J. M.
Prieto (Eds.), The IAAP Handbook of Applied Psychology (pp. 500–524). WileyBlackwell.
Stroeker, N. E. (2016). An overview of behavioral economics in Dutch policy making. The next
step: How to nudge policy makers? Apstract, 10, 27–32.
https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.250216
Lecture 2: Care
Rammelt, C. (2020, October 8 ). Degrowth in the Netherlands: An overview [Blog post].
Retrieved from https://www.postwachstum.de/degrowth-in-the-netherlands-anoverview-20201008.
D’Alisa, G., Deriu, M., & Demaria, F. (2014). Care. In G. D’Alisa, F. Demaria, & G. Kallis, (Eds.),
Degrowth: A vocabulary for a new era (pp. 63–66). London: Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203796146
Dombroski, K., Healy, S., & McKinnon, K. (2019). Care-full community economies. In C.
Bauhardt & W. Harcourt (Eds.), Feminist political ecology and the economics of care:
In search of economic alternatives (pp. 99-115). London: Routledge.
Lecture 3: Moral economies
Wheeler, K. (2019). Moral economies of consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 19, 271– 288.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540517729007
Deriu, M. (2014). Conviviality. In G. D’Alisa, F. Demaria, & G. Kallis, (Eds.), Degrowth: A vocabulary for
a new era (pp. 79–82). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203796146
Kennedy, M. (2020). A Slow Food commons: Cultivating conviviality across a range of property forms.
In J. K. Gibson-Graham, & K. Dombroski, (Eds.), The Handbook of Diverse Economies (pp. 308–315).
Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lecture 9: Degrowth and the meaning of good life
Muraca, B. (2012). Towards a fair degrowth-society: Justice and the right to a ‘good life’ beyond
growth. Futures, 44, 535–545
, 1.1 Amir et al. (2005) - Psychology, behavioral economics, and
public policy
Traditionally policy makers use the traditional preek, wortel en stok as policy interventions to change
behavior.
Preek refers to informative instruments to influence the social norm such as flyers or a
communication campaign for the public.
Wortel refers to economic instruments such as financial compensation or a subsidy
Stok refers to regulative instruments with a compulsory character such as penalties or less
financial payments.
Nudge= an intervention based on behavioral science knowledge, trying to change people’s behavior
in a predictable way without forbidding options or to influence behavior based on economic
incentives. A nudge should be easy to avoid. A nudge can also affect people’s behavior without them
being aware of the nudge. Responds to unconscious behavioral processes and gives a nudge in the
right direction without coercion or exclusion of alternatives.
Advice from the government concerning the next step
1) Use knowledge from behavioral economics in the entire process of policy making
2) Opt for policy making based on research and practical experience through policy evaluations (ex-
post) and empirical testing in advance (ex-ante)
3) Be transparent on the use of nudges
4) Take care of the impact of policy on the choice pressure that people experience by making this
experienced choice pressure feel lighter.
5) Ensure a structural integration of behavioral science knowledge in policy
The next important steps are:
- To nudge the policy makers to use the behavioral economics toolbox including the five
instruments of the IAK (integrated decision making framework)
- To obtain the support of (top)management in ministries and within the entire ministry (top-down
and bottom-up)
- To integrate a broad behavioral scientific perspective in the design of ex-ante and ex-post
evaluations
These are important next steps to ensure a structural integration of behavioral science
knowledge in policy making and evaluation.
1.2 Antonides, G. (2011) - Behavioral economics applied:
Suggestions for policy making
What is behavioral economics?
Behavioral economics= the combination of psychology and economics that investigates what
happens in which some of the agents display human limitations and complications. In doing so,
behavioral economics studies the ways in which behavior differs from the standard economic model
to improve the explanation of economic behavior.
Endowment effect= people value the loss of an item more negatively than they value the gain of such
an item positively.
