Clarifying by declassifying: removing the buzzwords from behavioral public policy

Buzzwords abound in behavioral public policy and are used to label various and varied conceptual policy frameworks in the field. The first and most famous of these buzzwords is “nudge,” which in its original manifestation encapsulated a coherent, if limited, perspective. However, instead of acknowledging the limitations of the approach, for which several alternative frameworks were developed to address, the advocates of nudge and those with little expertise in the field widened the parameters of the framework to an extent that its original meaning was largely lost. This essay details these developments and proposes that the buzzwords that are often loosely attached to behavioral public policy interventions—e.g., nudges, nudge-plus, boosts, shoves, and budges—be dropped. Instead, it is suggested that academics, practitioners, policymakers, and the general public reflect more deeply on the type of society in which we collectively wish to live and assess each behavioral public policy intervention on its own terms to discern whether it is congruent with our societal values.