Inaugural lecture by professor Lucia Reisch

Inaugural Lecture by Lucia Reisch

Careful attention to choice architecture promises to open up new possibilities for sustainable development  – possibilities that go well beyond, and that may be more effective than, the standard tools of economic incentives, legal mandates and bans and soft approaches such as consumer information and advice. Indeed, sustainable default rules may well be a more effective tool for altering outcomes than large economic incentives.

The underlying reasons include the power of suggestion; inertia and procrastination; and loss aversion. If well-chosen, defaults are likely to have large effects in reducing the economic, social and environmental harms associated with consumption activities.

Such defaults may or may not be more expensive to consumers. In deciding whether to establish sustainable defaults, choice architects should consider both consumer welfare and a wide range of other costs and benefits.

Sometimes that assessment will argue strongly in favor of defaults, particularly when both economic and environmental considerations point in their direction. But when choice architects lack relevant information, when interest-group maneuvering is a potential problem, and when externalities are not likely to be significant, active choosing, accompanied by various influences (including provision of relevant information), will usually be preferable to a sustainable default.

Programme

15.00-15.05 – Welcome by Head of Department Dorte Salskov-Iversen
15.05-15.15 – Welcome by Alan Irwin, Dean of Research at CBS
15.15-16.00 – Inaugural lecture by Lucia Reisch
16.00-17.00 – Department of Intercultural Communication and Management hosts a reception

Organised by Department of Intercultural Communication and Management