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The New York Times–bestselling author of Nudge examines the prevelance and burden of ‘sludge’—red tape and unnecessary paperwork—and why we must do better.
“If nudges have a mortal enemy, or perhaps the equivalent of antimatter to matter, it’s ‘sludge’.” —Forbes
We’ve all had to fight our way through administrative sludge—filling out complicated online forms, mailing in paperwork, standing in line at the motor vehicle registry. This kind of red tape is a nuisance, but, as Cass Sunstein shows in Sludge, it can also impair health, reduce growth, entrench poverty, and exacerbate inequality. Confronted by sludge, people just give up—and lose a promised outcome: a visa, a job, a permit, an educational opportunity, necessary medical help. In this lively and entertaining look at the terribleness of sludge, Sunstein explains what we can do to reduce it.
Because of sludge, Sunstein, explains, too many people don't receive benefits to which they are entitled. Sludge even prevents many people from exercising their constitutional rights—when, for example, barriers to voting in an election are too high. (A Sludge Reduction Act would be a Voting Rights Act.) Sunstein takes readers on a tour of the not-so-wonderful world of sludge, describes justifications for certain kinds of sludge, and proposes “Sludge Audits” as a way to measure the effects of sludge. On balance, Sunstein argues, sludge infringes on human dignity, making people feel that their time and even their lives don't matter. We must do better.
The New York Times–bestselling author of Nudge examines the prevelance and burden of ‘sludge’—red tape and unnecessary paperwork—and why we must do better.
“If nudges have a mortal enemy, or perhaps the equivalent of antimatter to matter, it’s ‘sludge’.” —Forbes
We’ve all had to fight our way through administrative sludge—filling out complicated online forms, mailing in paperwork, standing in line at the motor vehicle registry. This kind of red tape is a nuisance, but, as Cass Sunstein shows in Sludge, it can also impair health, reduce growth, entrench poverty, and exacerbate inequality. Confronted by sludge, people just give up—and lose a promised outcome: a visa, a job, a permit, an educational opportunity, necessary medical help. In this lively and entertaining look at the terribleness of sludge, Sunstein explains what we can do to reduce it.
Because of sludge, Sunstein, explains, too many people don't receive benefits to which they are entitled. Sludge even prevents many people from exercising their constitutional rights—when, for example, barriers to voting in an election are too high. (A Sludge Reduction Act would be a Voting Rights Act.) Sunstein takes readers on a tour of the not-so-wonderful world of sludge, describes justifications for certain kinds of sludge, and proposes “Sludge Audits” as a way to measure the effects of sludge. On balance, Sunstein argues, sludge infringes on human dignity, making people feel that their time and even their lives don't matter. We must do better.
Preface ix
1 A Curse 1
2 Sludge Hurts 21
3 Sludge as Architecture 35
4 Sludge in Action 45
5 Reasons for Sludge 73
6 Sludge Audits 91
7 The Most Precious Commodity 109
Acknowledgments 113
Notes 115
Index 141
Cass R. Sunstein is Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard
Law School and Chair of the Technical Advisory Group on Behavioral
Insights and Sciences at the World Health Organization. He is the
author of The Cost-Benefit Revolution, How Change Happens, Too Much
Information, Sludge (all published by the MIT Press), Nudge (with
Richard H. Thaler), and other books.
If nudges have a mortal enemy, or perhaps the equivalent of
antimatter to matter, it's "sludge." Sunstein uses this term to
describe unnecessarily effortful processes, bureaucratic
procedures, and other barriers to desirable outcomes. Sunstein has
exposed this conflict head-on in his new book, Sludge: What Stops
Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It. He shows how
the most effective government programs, Medicare and Social
Security, reach almost all eligible citizens because the government
does the recordkeeping and offers simple enrollment processes to
receive benefits.
--Forbes "Sludge, according to Cass Sunstein, is whatever frictions
separate us from what we want. It comes in many forms...even
sensible requirements that take more time than we can spare."
--The Christian Century In Sludge, Sunstein shines a light in the
bureaucratic darkness, and, by calling for "sludge audits," adds
his moral authority to the growing demand to clear out the
bureaucratic underbrush.
--Education Next
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