causal

Tricking The Inattentive Beats Educating Them

Because people are busy and inattentive rather than stupid, it is often easier to get desired outcomes by quietly changing defaults or design ('tricking' people) than by educating them or changing incentives—an insight Levitt credits to Thaler and now places at the top of his toolkit, while noting it raises ethical concerns.

causalpending

Speaker

Steven Levitt

Evidence Quote

If I want to get something done, I think, 'How can I trick people? How can I just get something done by changing it without anybody noticing?'

Source

Steven Levitt on Freakonomics and the State of EconomicsEconTalk
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:19:15 AM

My Notes

Loading notes...