Epistemic environmentalism: Nudging and epistemic externalities

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to examine whether nudges create negative epistemic externalities. The thesis of this paper is that there is reason to believe that nudging does have this effect. The paper begins by introducing this claim and its significance. Next, nudges and the public policy motivation for favouring nudging are explained. The impact of nudging on the epistemic environment is then examined. To assess the impact of nudges on epistemic environments, the Lake Shore Drive case is examined. The nudge in this case is beneficial in that it promises to reduce traffic accidents and save lives. Considering the case’s impact on the epistemic environment, however, calls into question the overall benefits of the nudge. The discussion is then extended to the impact of nudges on epistemic environments in general. Of particular interest for the purposes of this paper is how nudges, when they are discovered as such, can undermine the trust of agents in their epistemic environments in general and their trust in their nudger, the state, in particular. Finally, the lessons that should be drawn from the findings of the paper and whether these findings are consistent with retaining a place for nudges as a tool for achieving public policy goals are considered.