Nudging or Fudging: The World Development Report 2015

Abstract

The World Development Report 2015: Mind Society and Behaviour (World Bank, 2015), seeks a redesign of development policy on the basis of insights emerging from behavioural economics. This article offers a critical assessment of the Report across four dimensions. First, it situates the Report within the broader and evolving knowledge role of the Bank. Second, it locates the Report in the context of the evolution of economics as a discipline and how this informs the shaping of the Bank's development economics. Third, the Report is critically assessed for its narrow take on behavioural economics itself. Finally, the practical significance of the promotion of behavioural economics is considered through reference to its use in interventions in health in general and in response to HIV/AIDS in particular. It is argued that the Report suggests a dramatic and flawed reduction of what development is about, in that it forgoes any analysis of the structural problems facing developing countries and fails to propose major reforms to tackle these.