How Behavioural Science was Hijacked

I spoke to Professor Nick Chater to discuss his provocative new book It’s on You! How the Rich and Powerful Have Convinced Us that We're to Blame for Society's Deepest Problems. As a behavoural economist, I initially went into the field because it offered an alternative to the moribund old theories of rationality and equilibrium. Yet I was gradually disappointed that behavioural approaches only tweaked the model, offering an account of how ‘biased’ individuals strayed from rationality, and how we could ‘correct’ their behaviour. The focus on individuals was retained and the thought was that solving economic and social problems only required minor tweaks to their choice environment, known as “nudging”, an approach which took off in governments and corporations across the world.

The field of behavioral economics has promised that we could solve society’s deepest problems—from the climate crisis to retirement security—by simply "nudging" individuals toward better choices. But Nick and his coauthor George Loewenstein argue that this focus on what they call the ‘individual-frame’ has been a massive distraction. In this interview, we explored how major corporations have used behavioral science as a clever sleight of hand to convince us that we are to blame for systemic failures, all while they quietly lobby against the regulations and taxes that would actually create change. We dove into why it’s time to move past the "nudge" and start rewriting the social and economic rulebook to prioritise the common good over individual responsibility, adopting what they call the ‘systems-frame’.

Nick has a lifetime of research behind him and went from, a nudge convert to a nudge heretic. I was really great to get his perspective on how that happened and how we can use behavioural science for good.

Originally recorded on Tuesday 17th March, 2026.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.