Just finished reading a highly interesting blog post by Dave Trott, titled "A nudge beats nagging."

In it Dave comments on a new term in the planning world - 'Behavioural Economics.' Which he simply recasts as good ideas.

He further describes it as really clever thinking, setting up a situation so that people choose to do what we want them to do, rather than nagging them into doing something.

Behavioural Economics, or good ideas, whichever you'd prefer to call it, is best encapsulated in a book titled, 'Nudge.'

A case example concerns the early 20th century Turkish ruler, Attaturk.

Attaturk wanted Turkey to become a modern, secular state. So he needed to move the people away from religious domination.

One outward sign of this would be to stop Moslem women wearing the veil. One way to do that would be to pass a law banning it. But that might elevate the veil into a symbol of religious freedom. Which might actually turn people who wore it into martyrs.

How could he get women to choose to stop wearing the veil? Well he didn’t pass any laws about women and the veil. Except, he made it compulsory for prostitutes to wear the veil. Suddenly no respectable woman wanted to be seen wearing a veil.

Read the rest here.