DailyCaller.com’s Chuck Ross reports on an Obama executive order quietly issued by the White House on Tuesday.
The order authorizes federal agencies to conduct experiments to determine how the American public will react — and ultimately act — on government programs/laws/initiatives.
Just out: The impressive report from the White House’s Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. @R_Thaler https://t.co/AEPDoCCqgj
— Cass Sunstein (@CassSunstein) September 16, 2015
The initiative draws on research from University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler and Harvard law school professor Cass Sunstein, who was also dubbed Obama’s regulatory czar. The two behavioral scientists argued in their 2008 book “Nudge” that government policies can be designed in a way that “nudges” citizens towards certain behaviors and choices.
The desired choices almost always advance the goals of the federal government, though they are often couched as ways to cut overall program spending.
In its 2013 memo, which was reported by Fox News at the time, the White House openly admitted that the initiative involved behavioral experimentation.
“The federal government is currently creating a new team that will help build federal capacity to experiment with these approaches, and to scale behavioral interventions that have been rigorously evaluated, using, where possible, randomized controlled trials,” the memo read.
OBAMA ISSUES ORWELLIAN EXEC ORDER: To better manipulate American people to govt’s will http://t.co/1brf0BTVcx #nudge pic.twitter.com/19TZXhaHF9
— Sissy Willis (@SissyWillis) September 16, 2015
