21/05/2010ARCHIVEDWriters’ Unblocked presents: Richard Thaler

The IPA is delighted to be able to bring you an exclusive evening with Richard Thaler, co-author of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Yale University Press, 2008) on Tuesday 15th June at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.

Thaler’s work has been inspirational to IPA President Rory Sutherland’s IPA agenda on Behavioural Economics. With prompts from Rory, this evening will explore one of the key theories of behavioural economics — ‘choice architecture’ and presents an unmissable opportunity for IPA members to engage with the inventor of the term about our industry’s quest to be masters of it.

Thaler argues that choices can be designed to guide people whilst retaining their individual freedom, and asks the provocative question “Who wants to become a Choice Architect?” It is a call the advertising industry must answer. Thalers’ ‘Save More Tomorrow’ pension shows how powerful answering this call can be.

Choice architecture’s imperatives are powerful. Not embracing choice architecture would be as negligent as builders throwing up homes without plans or craft. Therefore, the challenges the advertising industry face are threefold 1) intellectual - to understand the principles behind Choice Architecture; 2) practical - to apply and deploy them in every day contexts; and 3) moral - to design choice architectures that work with people and not against them.

Biography
Richard Thaler is one of the two researchers credited with the original groundbreaking work in behavioural economics—the study of how thinking and emotions affect individual economic decisions and the behaviour of markets. Along with his co-author of Nudge, Prof. Thaler was recently chosen as number 7 on Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers list.
Richard Thaler is the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioural Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a regular contributor to the Economic View column of The New York Times.

Programme 
6.30pm   Drinks reception
7.oopm   Introduction — Rory Sutherland 
7.10pm   Interview with Richard Thaler
8.00pm   Q&A
8.30pm   Close

This event is for IPA members and non members
Please note, booking requesting to be paid by invoice will incur a 10% administration fee, and tickets will not be refunded 48 hours before the event, unless a waiting list is in operation.

A film of the event will be available to download on this site two weeks after the event.