Following the 1999 publication of the immensely popular and influential book by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein titled Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, the coalition government in the United Kingdom set up the Behavioural Insight Team (BIT; also known as the Nudge unit). Following the UK lead, a number of countries across the globe have initiated their own BIT-style groups, and many other countries have considered adopting behavioral economics insights into their policies and programs. The World Bank, United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and European Union have followed suit, establishing their own BIT-inspired units. Health behaviors, such as smoking, misusing prescription drugs, and purchasing health insurance, represent a domain that most, if not all, BIT-like units have been assigned to address. This is not surprising, because health behaviors are related to morbidity, mortality, and financial expenditure.
As the influence of behavioral...
