Yes / The aim of this chapter is to explore how social choice theory and the capability approach can help in clarifying important ethical dilemmas and issues of injustice that need to be addressed for cities to become sustainable cities. Six types of important injustices are identified covering both intra and inter-generational fairness. Some important criticisms of smart cities are considered and important safeguards and policy priorities for smart cities from the social choice and capability approach framings are identified. The main message of this chapter is that sustainability of cities is an ethical issue and not one of technology or measurement and it is all about the six types of injustices and that cities need to tackle all six of these injustices in their quest to become sustainable. Nudging and smart cities can help but these must be contextualised to priorities participation and equality. Social choice theory as formulated by Amartya Sen provides important insights to understand and deal with conflicts between different demands on freedoms of different individuals. / British Academy / The full-text of this book chapter will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 14 Sep 2024.

<div>The rising inactive lifestyle highlights the need to find efficient ways to tackle this worldwide lousy habit. Conventionally, polices of resolving healthy issues such as smoking and overeating focus on providing regulations and information, drawing on the assumption that people will change behavior when they consciously realize the harms and benefits. However, policy interventions have only shown limited success. On the other side, nudging, which assumes people act subliminally and aims to steer people in the right direction without limiting their freedom of choice, is suggested as a promising approach in lessening healthy issues. However, nudging interventions have not received sufficient attention in research so far, especially with regards to walkable designs that lead people to intend to walk instead of taking motor vehicles. </div><div><br></div><div>To bridge this gap, innovatively, the present study incorporates nudging techniques into walkability design. Nudging techniques include priming, salience, and norms. Priming is a phenomenon whereby exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious guidance. The present study primed participants with walking shoes in advance, expecting they have higher intention in walking in later experiments. Salience bias predisposes individuals to focus on items that are more prominent or emotionally striking and ignore those that are unremarkable. In order to generate salience bias, sidewalks of a street view on a black-and-white sketch were highlighted with colors. Then, the study displays the sketch with colored sidewalks to participants, expecting those with salience bias have a higher intention to walk. Norms are typical patterns of behavior, generally accompanied by the expectation that people will behave according to the pattern. The norm in this study delivered the information that most tourists are walking, expecting a participant who received the information will act consistently with the majority. </div><div><br></div><div>The research is based on a carefully designed online questionnaire with scenario-based experiments where participants imagined to be tourists. Research results reveal: 1) priming with walking shoes has significant effects on inspiring people to walk, 2) salient sidewalks nudge people to walk and warm colors like red even have more potential in encouraging walking, and 3) descriptive norms have potent effects on nudging walking, especially when added with identification information. Further, three mediators were identified to bridge the effect of salience on walking intention, namely visibility, excitement, and enjoyment. Visibility represents how noticeable the sidewalks are. Excitement indicates colored and un-colored sidewalks bring expected exciting or boring experience. Enjoyment is the degree of pleasure that participants perceived when imaging to walk on the sidewalks. Collectively, visibility, excitement, enjoyment, prime, and norms together play crucial roles in nudging people to walk. Additionally, females, exercise lovers, and hospitality and leisure industry workers tend to have higher intentions in walking while traveling. </div><div><br></div><div>Theoretically, the thesis adds new knowledge to interventions and deconstructions of tourists' walking intentions. Additionally, the study contributes to the refinement of descriptive norms and the literature of social comparison. Practically, the study implies that wellness resources need to be easily noticed by the public so as to make optimal use of healthy support. It also alarms tourism practitioners that besides improving tourists' health, wellness resources can become a pull factor of the tourist attraction and thereby bring tourism economic benefits.</div>

This dissertation evaluates the effectiveness of public interventions in tax policy (such as a tax compliance campaign in Greece), the performance of public institutions that dictate land zoning (corruption of zoning officials in Greece and Spain) and public health (publicly-provided health insurance; namely, Medicaid). The common underlying theme of the dissertation is the public nature of the policies examines with an empirical emphasis. The ultimate goal of this research body is to provide credible policy solutions for the improvement of public administration.

Problem: Currently, there are two definitions of nudging, one that is connected to sustainable development and another one that is not. This can create confusion for researchers and customers and could potentially lead to greenwashing when the incentive of the nudge does not match with the best outcome of the person being nudged. Purpose: The purpose is to explore how organisations interpret nudging and how their underlying incentives affect the use of nudging in practice. Aim: This research aims to explore the incentives behind organisations use of nudging for sustainable marketing in practice. The organisations incentives will be connected to any of the dualistic definitions of nudging in order to see which of the definitions that are aligned to practice. Method: This research is a qualitative study and has been conducted under an interpretivist paradigm. It has made use of semi-structured interviews to collect primary data, as well as newspaper articles and web sites to collect secondary data. To analyse the data, a general analytical procedure was used. The data was presented in a within-case analysis together with a cross-case analysis where the empirical data was compared with the theoretical framework to discuss and answer the research questions. Result and Conclusions: The comparisons showed that three out of five organisations have the main incentive of earning money from their nudge despite their sustainability agenda. Another finding was that only one organisation exclusively uses the definition of nudging that is connected to libertarian paternalism. These findings contribute to the literature and informs customers that nudges can be used for several purposes.

The city of Cape Town suffered a severe water crisis in 2018. At the peak of the drought in South Africa’s Western Cape, a randomised control trial at 105 schools investigated the impact of two behavioural interventions to encourage responsible water usage: detailed water usage data feedback from smart meters, and an interschool competition. Interventions reduced water usage in these schools by 15 to 26%. The information feedback was found to be more effective in reducing night time water use, indicating better water usage by the staff, while the competition was found to be more effective during the day time, indicating better water usage by the pupils. The contrast highlights the way feedback was understood differently by the two groups, with different effects on their assumption of responsibility. This example from Cape Town demonstrates the effectiveness of combining smart technologies with nudges. It provides a model of water conservation interventions for sustainable cities.

Cette thèse traite des enjeux environnementaux et sanitaires de l’agriculture sous l’angle de l’économie comportementale. En partant de l’exemple emblématique fourni par la contestation sociale de l’usage des pesticides dans la filière vin, nous montrons pourquoi la réorientation durable du système productif ne peut s’affranchir d’une analyse des arbitrages effectués par les agents économiques. Du côté de la demande, nous mesurons expérimentalement l’effet concurrentiel des certifications (agriculture biologique) et des innovations technologiques (e.g. cépages résistants, réduction des sulfites) sur les préférences des consommateurs. Nous observons que ceux-ci sont prêts à revoir en partie leurs exigences gustatives en faveur d’un niveau élevé de qualité environnementale, mais que leurs motivations sont en partie liées à des attentes sanitaires, générant des signaux contradictoires pour l’offre. Le faible niveau d’information auquel ils ont accès constitue par ailleurs un frein à la sélection des meilleurs produits. Au niveau de l’offre, nous soutenons que la réponse à cette demande reste fortement limitée par l’inertie du système productif. Celle-ci peut être attribuée à une aversion au risque mais aussi, de nouveau, à un déficit informationnel, bien plus qu’à des comportements déviants liés au mimétisme, souvent incriminé en agriculture. Ce déficit porte cette fois sur les possibilités d’action de l’amont de la filière, dans notre cas les viticulteurs. Nous donnons alors des pistes d’orientation des politiques publiques de régulation, au niveau global ou au niveau plus local de la gouvernance d’entreprise, pour faciliter l’adéquation entre offre et demande sociétale. / This thesis deals with the impact of agriculture on health and the environment from a behavioural economics perspective. Focusing on the controversial use of pesticides in the winegrowing industry, I demonstrate the importance of considering the trade-offs made by economic actors in order to understand the obstacles hindering a shift to sustainable production. On the consumer side, I experimentally measure the competitive effect of certification (organic farming) and technological innovations (e.g. resistant grapevines, reduction of sulphites) on consumers’ preferences. I observe that consumers are partly willing to review their taste requirements in exchange for high environmental quality level, but that their motives are essentially health-oriented, generating contradictory signals towards producers. Besides, selecting the best products is hampered by the little information consumers are provided with. On the supply side, I argue that ability to meet demand is strongly limited by the inertia of the production system. This inertia can be attributed to risk aversion but again, to a large extent, to a lack of information, rather than being, as is often suggested in an agricultural context, the result of imitation. This lack of information this time concerns the various options available upstream, in this instance, on the part of winegrowers. I then provide guidelines for public regulatory policies, at global level or at more local level of corporate governance, to enable a match between supply and societal demand.

L'objectif de cette thèse composée de six articles théoriques et empiriques, est d'identifier les moyens les plus efficaces d'encourager les usagers de drogues – légales et illégales – à adopter des habitudes plus saines en réduisant leur consommation. La première étape consiste à évaluer l’ampleur du problème en mesurant le coût social des drogues (tabac, alcool et drogues illicites) en France en 2010. Malgré les campagnes de prévention massives, la proportion inquiétante des consommateurs de substances nocives, mais surtout, la part élevée de personnes déclarant regretter d'avoir commencé leur consommation, conduisent à reconsidérer le paradigme traditionnel de l’addiction rationnelle, à la base de la plupart des travaux de recherche sur les addictions en économie. Au contraire, admettre une polyphasie cognitive chez les individus avec d’une part, un planner prenant ses décisions aussi rationnellement que ses capacités cognitives ne le lui permettent, et un doer ne cherchant qu’à atteindre une satisfaction immédiate, permet de construire un cadre théorique original tenant compte des émotions de court terme et de long terme des agents, ainsi que le rôle des normes sociales sur leurs décisions de consommation addictives. Le modèle construit à partir de ce cadre, ainsi que son analyse sur un panel de fumeurs français, permet de proposer des politiques novatrices visant à renforcer la motivation des individus à arrêter leur consommation addictive en réduisant leurs problèmes d’autocontrôle, en agissant sur leur perception des dangers liés à l’usage de drogues, et en ciblant un changement normatif de leur consommation. La plupart de ces recommandations ne sont pas applicables aux drogues illégales en raison de leur statut juridique. De ce fait, le seul levier permettant de définir une stratégie visant à réduire les coûts induits, est l’étude des alternatives juridiques à la pénalisation de la consommation, en particulier en ce qui concerne le cannabis, qui est la drogue illicite la plus largement utilisée en France, mais également dans la plupart des pays développés. / The objective of this thesis, composed of six academic papers, is to identify how to encourage people to adopt healthier habits by reducing their ⎯ legal and illegal ⎯ drug consumption. The first step is to evaluate the importance of the problem by measuring the social costs of drugs (tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs) in France in 2010. Despite massive prevention campaigns, the worrying proportion of harmful substance users and the high proportion of individuals who declare they regret having started consumption leads to reconsideration of the traditional paradigm of rational addiction and its extensions at the basis of most research works on addiction in economics. In contrast, admitting that individuals exhibit a dual process of reasoning, with a planner acting as rationally as the individual’s cognitive capabilities permit on the one hand and a doer who only seeks short-term rewards on the other, allows the construction of an original theoretical framework that takes into account consumers’ short-term and long-term emotions, and the role of social norms in addictive consumption. The model built from this framework and its testing through an analysis of smokers permit the proposal of innovative policies aiming to enhance individuals’ motivation to quit addictive consumption by (i) reducing their self-control problems, (ii) acting on their perception of the danger of the drug, and (iii) by targeting a normative change. Most of these recommendations are not applicable to illegal drugs due to their legal status. Thus, the strategy to reduce harm in this instance is to study the legal alternatives to the criminalization of use, especially for cannabis, which is the most widely used illegal drug in France, as it also is in most developed countries.

The awareness of environmental impacts lead to that organizations are starting to work towards UN's global sustainability goals. To influence customers into a more sustainable behaviour, organizations have the potential to look at nudging as a tool. A nudge is a way to alter peoples behaviour into taking a certain decision. However, since many organizations offer their service or product in the digital environment, such as websites or apps, increased knowledge of digital nudging is required. This thesis aims to establish a framework for how nudges should be designed and used on digital platforms to encourage sustainable decisions. The purpose is to enlighten designers of digital environment of the potential of nudges, pitfalls to avoid, and a general design process to follow. The framework is based on a literature study and interviews with people familiar with the concept of nudging. To examine how the framework works a case study is performed, this includes a workshop, performing a user research, developing prototypes and finally, conduct user tests. By testing the framework further methods could be found, this meant that more practical steps could be included in the framework. The result of this thesis shows that the framework proved to be useful and functional to use when designing digital nudges to encourage sustainable decisions.

The share of organic sales in grocery stores has decreased and in 2021 the share decreased by 0.5 percent from the year before, where total sales amounted to 6.3 percent. In recent years, nudge theory has become more topical, especially in the subject of ecological- and environmental economics. However, research has not focused as much on the ethical perspective and how nudging has been applied to the real environment which the researchers for this study considered worth studying closer. Nudge theory is used as a policy tool that should subconsciously influence or guide customers to make decisions that will benefit them in the long run, without depriving them of the freedom to make their own choices or limit the number of options. Nudges can also be shaped in an unethical way by consciously using nudge theory to negative consequences. The purpose of this study was to examine the types of nudges used in grocery stores to increase the purchase of organic products. This study also examines what the employees in each grocery store considers about their own design of nudges and determines which nudges promote better behavior or manipulation based on an assessed ethical perspective.  Based on theories and previous research, the categories environment, price, and supply have been designed to observe green nudges within each store. The categories were later used to compile observations on inventory. An interview guide has also been conducted to examine the employees' views from an ethical assessed perspective. Results indicated that there are multiple nudges in the shape of placement, information, measures, reminder of choice, maximization of supplies based on what fits in the cartons and refrigerator, not an equal distribution between ecological and conventional products, price in combination with campaigns and that the number of supplies is controlled by what sells the best. Lastly in conclusion both study questions were answered with what types of nudges and that ethics depends on the purpose of the nudge. Further, some nudges were not seen as wrongdoing based on employees and the company's values but are wrong according to nudge theory. Regardless, ecological behavior is promoted on most designated nudges and is confirmed by employees in each store. / Andelen ekologisk försäljning i matbutiker har minskat och under år 2021 minskade andelen med 0,5 procent från året innan där den totala försäljningen uppgick till 6,3 procent. Under de senaste åren har nudge theory blivit mer aktuellt inom ekologisk- och miljöekonomi. Däremot har forskningen inte fokuserat lika mycket på etiska perspektivet och hur nudging har applicerats på den verkliga miljön, vilket denna studie studerar närmare. Nudge theory används som ett policyverktyg som ska påverka eller styra kunder undermedvetet till att fatta beslut som ska gynna dessa kunder på lång sikt, utan att ta ifrån dem friheten att göra egna val eller begränsa antalet alternativ. Nudges kan däremot formas på ett oetiskt sätt genom att medvetet använda sig av nudge theory till negativa konsekvenser. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka typer av nudges som används för att öka köp av ekologiska produkter. Studien undersöker även vad anställda i varje matbutik anser om deras egen utformning av nudges och avgöra vilka nudges som främjar ett bättre beteende eller manipulerar utifrån ett bedömt etiskt perspektiv.  Utifrån teorierna och tidigare forskning har kategorierna miljö, pris och antal utformats för att observera gröna nudges inom avdelningarna frukt och grönt samt mejeri, i respektive butik. Kategorierna användes senare för att sammanställa observationer av inventering. En intervjuguide har även genomförts för att granska de anställdas synpunkter utifrån ett etiskt bedömt perspektiv. Resultat visade på att det finns flera nudges i form av placering, informering, åtgärder, påminnelse av val, maximering av utbud utifrån vad som får plats i kartong och kyl, inte en jämn fördelning av ekologiska och konventionella varor, pris i kombination med kampanjer samt att antalet drivs av vad som säljs bäst. Avslutningsvis kunde båda frågeställningarna besvaras med vilka typer av nudges som återfanns i den fysiska miljön och att etiken beror framför allt på syftet på nudgen. Ytterligare i resultat och analys förs en diskussion att vissa nudges inte anses vara fel utifrån anställdas egna samt butikens värderingar, men anses vara det enligt nudge theory. Oavsett främjas ekologiskt beteende på majoriteten av utpekade nudges och bekräftas av anställda i vardera butik.

With workplace disasters in developing countries increasingly in the news, a major question is how to encourage consumers to use corporate social responsibility as a criterion in purchasing. Distinct from environmental concerns, social responsibility is defined here with respect to the humanitarian aspects of corporate practice, including fair wages and working conditions, equitable treatment of the disadvantaged, and restriction of child labor. Although the idea of socially responsible consumption (SRC) was first identified over forty years ago, most recent research on changing consumption habits focuses specifically on environmentally responsible consumption (ERC). Combining the psychological concept of social norms with economic emphasis on choice framing, research in behavioral economics has suggested that ERC can be promoted by “nudges,” low-cost initiatives that alter the decision environment to favor specific options. Here, we provide an overview of the existing literature on nudges and consumer choice, including the role of social norms, as well as other factors involved in successful social messaging. Previous research on ERC suggests that social norm nudges may result in higher rates of energy conservation, recycling and reuse, and purchasing of ecologically-friendly products. Applying these findings to the domain of SRC, we propose a set of possible interventions to increase consumer attention to social responsibility, highlighting the distinguishing roles of empathy and targeted demographic appeals in nudging consumers towards social change.