The Emergence of Behavioural Policy-Making: A European Perspective

This chapter is the introduction to the book Nudge and the Law: A European Perspective. It sets the scene for an exploration of the legal implications of the emergent phenomenon of behaviourally informed intervention. More precisely, we focuses on the challenges and opportunities it may offer to the policymaking of the European Union. This dual focus on law and on Europe characterises our endeavour. We take as our starting point the current debate around "Nudging", which mainly comprises two strands of enquiry: when is it legitimate for States to use psychology to inform policy? (the legitimacy debate) and, to the extent that it is legitimate, how can behavioural insights in practice be incorporated into the decision making processes? (the practicability debate). We explain why a European perspective differs somewhat from a US American perspective and introduce the structure of the volume. The book contains contributions which analyse what behavioural insights might bring to EU law, both at a horizontal level and at a sectoral level. It endeavours to present existing research in a manner that is accessible both to EU law specialists who are not yet familiar with behavioural sciences and to behavioural lawyers who are not specialists in EU law.