Abstract
This article analyses nudging in constitutional and environmental law. On the level of constitutional law, nudging is criticized for being paternalistic. On second thought, many forms of nudging are in contrast not paternalistic, because they do not protect an individual from themselves, but others from negative effects of the actions of an individual. Especially in environmental policies, nudging therefore proves to be legitimate. However, nudging might not be as effective as policy instrument for environmental issues, as many hope. Even though this article shows interesting possible examples of nudging, it also argues why the effect of nudging as main policy instrument in solving environmental problems will be limited.
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Notes
- 1.
Ekardt et al. 2015.
- 2.
Thaler and Sunstein 2008.
- 3.
- 4.
Jackson 2009; Paech 2012.
- 5.
On the following, see Ekardt 2015.
- 6.
Hausman and Welch 2010, p. 128.
- 7.
On the following, see Ekardt 2015.
- 8.
Schmidt-Radefeldt 2000.
- 9.
- 10.
On the following, see Ekardt 2015.
- 11.
For a critical perspective see Spangenberg and Settele 2010.
- 12.
- 13.
Sunstein and Reisch 2013.
- 14.
Marteau et al. 2011, p. 263.
- 15.
- 16.
- 17.
Probably leading to reduced resource and energy use; see Werland et al. 2014, p. 9.
- 18.
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Ekardt, F., Wieding, J. (2016). Nudging and Environmental Law. In: Mathis, K., Tor, A. (eds) Nudging - Possibilities, Limitations and Applications in European Law and Economics. Economic Analysis of Law in European Legal Scholarship, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29562-6_13
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