The BE Police: Protecting consumers from ‘sludge’

Crawford Hollingworth and Liz Barker

Explains the term 'sludge' as the dark side of nudge ethics and provides a solution to these practices in the form of a policing role for behavioural economics.

Ask someone if they know what 'nudge' means, and they're increasingly likely to answer 'yes'. 'Nudge' has become a watch word of behavioural science and is widely understood as being indicative of actions which steer behaviour change. But are people as familiar with the related term 'sludge'?

Perhaps not, not yet, but they would be well advised to get up to speed. 'Sludge' has come to represent the dark side of nudge ethics and is used to define and draw attention to companies who use behavioural science and nudges in ways that hurt rather than promote the welfare of consumers....

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