On 13 May 2021 Bill de Blasio, then mayor of New York City, held an online press conference where he announced an intriguing agreement between the city and Shake Shack, a local chain of burger restaurants. The aim was to get New Yorkers vaccinated against Covid-19 – each vaccinated individual would receive a coupon for a free burger or sandwich at any of the local chain’s locations. In behavioural science, this kind of incentive is known as a “nudge”.
The term was popularised by Richard H. Thaler (winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences) and Cass R. Sunstein in their best selling 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. In essence, a “nudge” involves any manipulation of the decision-making environment that steers people’s behaviour in a direction beneficial to them, but without restricting their options or limiting their freedom of choice in any way.
