Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/185544 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 7346
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We study the optimal design of information nudges for present-biased consumers who have to make sequential consumption decisions without exact prior knowledge of their long-term consequences. For arbitrary distributions of risk, there exists a consumer-optimal information nudge that is of cutoff type, recommending consumption or abstinence according to the magnitude of the risk. Under a stronger bias for the present, the target group receiving a credible signal to abstain must be tightened. We compare this nudge with those favored by a health authority or a lobbyist. When some consumers are more strongly present-biased than others, a traffic-light nudge is optimal.
Subjects: 
information design
information nudges
present-biased preferences
self-control
JEL: 
C73
D82
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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