Do you often choose what is easiest over what is wisest.

[Quantum]

Seems common sense, no? Or maybe his ideas were incorporated into common culture over the years?

What do you think? Do you need small extra incentives along the way to a greater goal?

'Nudge' economist Richard Thaler wins Nobel Prize
Nudge theory takes account of this, based as it is on the simple premise that people will often choose what is easiest over what is wisest.
...
Then there is his work on the "planner-doer" syndrome - that we lack self-control, will act in our own short-term self-interest and need extra incentives to plan long term than simply being told that, rationally, it is good idea.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41...)

[Graeme]

Looks like a false pair.

There are things which are,

1. Easy and foolish.
2. Easy and wise
3. Hard and foolish, and
4. Hard and wise.

The idea of nudging people toward a greater good presupposes that the people doing the nudging are correct in the following ways.

1. The have correctly identified the greater good.
2. The nudging will be effective at achieving the greater good.
3. There are no unforseen negative consequences derived from the nudging or the greater good.

In practice, nudging, like any other herd control technique will be co-opted by the powerful to further entrench the status quo.