Includes bibliographical references and index. Oliver, A. J. (2017). The origins of behavioural public policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Assuming Rationality -- The Origins of Economic Rationality -- A Quiet Interlude -- The Neo-Bernoullian Formulation -- Utility Elicitation -- Challenging Rationality -- The Allais Paradox -- The Ellsberg Paradox -- Satisficing and Rules of Thumb -- Classic Preference Reversals -- Describing Risky Behaviours -- The Markowitz Model -- Prospect Theory -- Prospect Theory and Allais' Conjecture -- Reflection -- Regret and Disappointment -- About Time -- The Normative Case of Discounting -- Present Bias -- Present Bias and Risk Attitude -- The Time Trade-Off -- Experiencing and Remembering -- Empirical Examples of the Gestalts -- The Gestalts and Respect for Individual Agency -- Using the Gestalts Descriptively -- Motivational Crowding -- Self-Determination Theory -- Empirical Examples of Crowding -- Personal Financial Incentives -- Designing Performance Management -- Nudges -- The Nudge Requirements -- The British Movement -- Proposals and Suggestions -- Shoves and Budges -- Coercive Paternalism -- Regulating against Harms -- The Behavioural Public Policy Cube -- Give and Take -- Other Animals -- Anthronomics -- The Ultimatum Game -- Informing Public Policy with Reciprocity -- Summing Up -- The Burgeoning Interest -- Embracing Evolution -- The Policy Approach -- Human Motivation -- The Future

The use of behavioural science to inform policy is one of the main developments in the social sciences over the last several decades. In this book, Adam Oliver offers an accessible introduction to the development of behavioural public policy, examining how behavioural economics might be used to inform the design of a broad spectrum of policy frameworks, from nudges, to bans on certain individual behaviours, to the regulation of the commercial sector. He also considers how behavioural economics can explain and predict phenomena as a challenge to economists' assumptions around how people perceive time, utility and money. The book offers an intellectual foundation for all those concerned with behavioural public policy, from academics, undergraduate and postgraduate students with a diverse range of disciplinary perspectives, such as economics, political science, sociology and anthropology, to policy makers and practitioners working directly with behavioural public policy in their everyday working lives.