Law Commons^™

Digital Nudges: Contours And Challenges, Avishalom Tor

Book Chapters

Digital nudges—that is, significantly behavioral interventions that use software and its user-interface design elements—are an increasingly pervasive feature of online environments that shapes behavior both online (e.g., changing online privacy settings) and offline (e.g., taking a flu vaccine due to a text message reminder). Although digital nudges share many characteristics of their offline counterparts, they merit particular attention and analysis for two important reasons: First, the growing ubiquity of digital nudges makes encountering them nearly unavoidable in daily life, thereby bringing into sharper relief the promise and perils of nudges more generally. Second, the potentially greater potency of digital—compared to …

The Law And Economics Of Freshwater, Bruce R. Huber

Book Chapters

The chapter is a tribute to Klaus Mathis for his invaluable contributions at the intersection of law and economics.

Law and Economics in all seinen Facetten Festschrift zu Ehren von Klaus Mathis trans: Law and Economics in All His Facets: Festschrift in Honor of Klaus Mathis

Series: Schriften zur Rechtstheorie, vol. 309

Nudge Efficiency, Avishalom Tor

Book Chapters

Only a small portion of the substantial literature on behavioral interventions ("nudges") that developed over the last fifteen to twenty years has considered nudges from an economic perspective. Moreover, despite the importance of the topic for a law and economics assessment of this increasingly common form of regulation, even fewer contributions have examined whether and when behavioral instruments are likely to make an efficient means for increasing social welfare. This chapter therefore offers some basic observations about nudge efficiency: Part I opens with a reminder that behavioral instruments should be implemented only when they are the most efficient means available …

Allocating State Authority Over Charitable Nonprofit Organizations, Lloyd H. Mayer

Journal Articles

This Essay considers the allocation of state authority to enforce the legal obligations particular to charities and their leaders among state officials, including attorneys general, judges, and legislators, and private parties. It first describes the existing allocation. It then reviews the most common criticisms of this allocation, which primarily focus on two concerns: politicization and lack of sufficient enforcement. Finally, it evaluates the most notable proposals for reallocating this authority, including the reallocation of this authority in part to private parties.

This Essay concludes that reform proposals have two fundamental flaws. First, proposals aimed at countering the political nature of …

If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them: Richard Posner And Behavioral Law And Economics, Avishalom Tor, Doran Teichman, Eyal Zamir

Journal Articles

Since its publication in 1973, Economic Analysis of Law (the Treatise) by Richard Posner has been recognized as the canonical treatise in the field. Given this status, observing changes over time in the different editions of the book can highlight substantial and methodological shifts in the area. On this backdrop, this brief essay will highlight Posner's change of attitude towards behavioral analysis of law over the years, culminating with the incorporation of behavioral insights into the las edition of this book, published in 2024.

The Private Costs Of Behavioral Interventions, Avishalom Tor

Journal Articles

The increasing popularity of behavioral interventions—also known as nudges—is largely due to their perceived potential to promote public and private welfare at dramatically lower costs than those of traditional regulatory instruments, such as mandates or taxes. Yet, though nudges typically involve low implementation costs, scholars and policymakers alike tend to underestimate their often-substantial private costs. Once these costs are accounted for, most nudges turn out to generate significantly lower net benefits than assumed, and some prove less efficient or less cost-effective than traditional instruments. At other times, the private costs of behavioral interventions are sufficiently large to render them socially …