Richard Thaler Quotes
When should we nudge and when should we shove, I think, it's a political judgment. Obviously in some situations we need shoves, we need laws. Fraud is against the law, murder is against the law, drunk-driving is against the law. We don't need just nudges.
Thaler, Richard H., and Cass R. Sunstein. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Yale University Press, 2008.
The country had just gotten rid of Prohibition. However, there was substantial censorship of literature on the part of the Post Office, then a government agency. Abortion was then illegal in every state, and in many states it was a criminal offence to sell or distribute condoms. Homosexuality was a crime in most states and it disqualified a person from Federal employment as did a woman who had borne a child out of wedlock. Films were censored, and in some states, the only legal position for a married couple to have intercourse was the so called “missionary position”. All others were often a crime. Store owners could not open on Sunday, and Christian prayers were compulsory in many areas of society.
For earlier similar sentiments see Plato and William D'Avenant {312586}.
Spinoza’s ideas were considered so radical and dangerous that he was the only man in history who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims.
Richard H. Thaler is an American economist and the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2015, Thaler was president of the American Economic Association.
