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Applied and bridge studies study record
Decision Accounting & recordsBeyond Nudge: The Case for Decision Accounting
STATUS · Manuscript in progressSSRN · Not yet posted
MECHANISM
Identify the incentive structure and the condition that would falsify the claim.
RULE CHANGE
Read the intervention only after the paper shows how the current payoff space fails to support system welfare.
READER USE
Use the summary to see where private gain creates system exposure, then check the study record.
Contribution — what this adds to the conversation
Provides a formal game-theoretic framework, empirical case studies with dollar figures, and a concrete institutional mechanism (DA). Bridges behavioral economics and public policy.
WHAT'S NEW · Original formalization of the Nudge Intractability Theorem and the 17-field DA protocol. Novel application of MST to behavioral public policy with falsification conditions.
The paper establishes the Nudge Intractability Theorem: nudge interventions systematically exclude system welfare from evaluation, producing 'Hollow Wins' that benefit choice architects and targets while degrading the broader system. It proposes Decision Accounting (DA), a 17-field protocol, to make system welfare a mandatory dimension of every choice architecture decision. Evidence from retirement defaults, energy reports, and administrative burdens shows that current practices undercount welfare costs by 40-70%, with an estimated $3-8 of system welfare destroyed per dollar of industry revenue.