Yorktown@: PTP Wire | York Co. BOS and Bloomberg Nudge

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

PTP Wire | York Co. BOS and Bloomberg Nudge

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York County BOS and Bloomberg

Nudge Citizens' Decisions

Nudge is this week's theme.

The immediate environment plays a tremendous role when influencing our decisions. Bureaucrats, academia and politicians use nudge tactics to greatly impact these decisions within the public realm as this article will point out. It either starts at the federal level and trickles down to our local officials or with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and trickles up. These individuals and organizations believe the environment must be controlled to influence our decisions.

You must be nudged.

Quotes are bold and italicized.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Explanation of Nudge

Ezra Taft Benson's Socialist Warning from 1960s

Professor's Cass Sunstein's Nudge

Mayor Bloomberg Nudges Mothers

York County BOS Nudges Residents

Explanation of Nudge

What is a NUDGE? (2:32)

What is a nudge?

"A well designed nudge encourages people to make better decisions. The approach should not be to bribe someone or tell them what decisions to make."

What Kinds of choices most benefit from nudges? Where consequences are delayed, decisions are complex or the number of choices are overwhelming.

"Anyone can choose between vanilla or chocolate but 31 flavors can be overwhelming."

"...like choosing the right health insurance plan is too complex."

Who decides when, how, where or who to nudge? Who decides the direction of your choices?

Ezra Taft Benson - Warning

Ezra Taft Benson
Warning (3:36)

"You, Americans, are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright but we'll keep feeding you small doses of Socialism until you wake up and find you already have communism."

Nikita Kruschev, Soviet Union Premier

Ezra Taft Bensonwas the Secretary of Agriculture under Eisenhower

Nudge - Cass Sunstein

Professor Sunstein's Nudge (5:40)

"There's a little Homer Simpson in all of us."

Professor Cass Sunstein teaches Constitutional law, environmental law and behavioral economics. He was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He taught 27 years at the University of Chicago and is returning to Harvard Law School to head up a new program specifically for him.

Harvard University has created a new "Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy" for Cass Sunstein

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/science/earth/cass-sunstein-to-leave-top-regulatory-post.html

"...gentle, low-cost signals - like putting fruit at the beginning rather than the end of a cafeteria line, or making participation in retirement savings plan the default position rather than an option - are more effective than the heavy hand of government regulation."

"At Harvard Law School, Mr. Sunstein will direct the new Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy."

Mayor Bloomberg Nudges Breastfeeding

NYC Mayor takes on baby formula (3:17)

Recently, Mayor Bloomberg nudges mother's toward breastfeeding. 27 of NYC's 40 hospitals have adopted Bloomberg's practice.

"To encourage, new moms to start down the path of breast-feeding, the mayor's initiative will have baby formula at hospitals locked up."

"...nurses will have to sign out the formula"

Other cities have adopted this measure, along with state officials who are banning goodie bags from hospitals.

http://consumerist.com/2012/07/nycs-mayor-bloomberg-locking-up-baby-formula-at-hospitals-to-encourage-breastfeeding.html

NGOs sometimes push this type of ordinances. An NGO named Public Citizen fired off 2,600 letters advocating against hospital handing out "samples in new mothers' discharge bags, calling it unethical and a violation of good public health policy."

"...these freebies could end up being a huge drain on parents' paychecks."

"Many hospitals are actively trying to promote breastfeeding in their obstetrics units. But by continuing to allow marketing of infant formula in their facilities, they are undermining their own efforts."

http://consumerist.com/2012/04/should-hospitals-stop-giving-out-free-samples-of-baby-formula-to-new-moms.html

York County BOS Nudges Residents

"The York County Board of Supervisors is looking for ways to limit unwanted solicitation and on Tuesday, discussed a proposed ordinance."

Tom Sheppard "hopes to give residents peace of mind."

"adoption of a solicitation ordinance that would give residents and law enforcement a way to crack down on bogus money-making schemes."

Sheriff Diggs, "the proposed ordinance would help his officers vet solicitors and salespeople, while also providing citizens with some form of recourse."

"Permitted peddlers or solicitors would have..."

"...has several exemptions, including businesspeople who are invited into homes; children under 12, such as Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts, representatives of nonprofit religious groups, political candidates or supporters; and newspaper or farm product deliverymen."

http://www.wydaily.com/local-news/york-govt-notebook/9694-york-notebook-bos-considering-solicitation-ordinance.html

To read the Solicitation Ordinance:

http://www.yorkcounty.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=J%2fqYJKsy8gg%3d&tabid=1900