Abstract (eng)
This thesis gives an overview of the published literature in the last five years in the field of libertarian paternalistic behaviour regulation interventions. The reason for this thesis is founded in the continuing increase of interest in the field of behaviour regulations. This might be founded in the easily applicable and effective nature of the nudges to intervene into people’s behaviour and to steer them into an intended direction by the choice architect. This presented thesis is analysing the theoretical groundwork of nudges and libertarian paternalism in general, and furthermore discusses the legal and ethical principles for applying the concept of libertarian paternalistic behavioural interventions at the level of public policy. Furthermore, the most common nudges will be described and in the pros and cons regarding ethical concerns and their usability will be broadly discussed. Using various meta-analyses, this paper systematically evaluates the general effectiveness and acceptance of libertarian paternalistic interventions in the field. It also presents recently published frameworks, classifying nudges, and builds the groundwork for its own framework. This newly postulated model provides a framework to evaluate effectiveness and acceptance of planned interventions, in order to use a nudge with the highest possible proportion between acceptance and effectiveness, with the mildest possible intrusiveness. To conclude, the thesis gives an overview of the scope of application of libertarian paternalistic interventions and points at the opportunities and the risks of this young and constantly growing field of research.