Conversations with Tyler: A Conversation with Cass Sunstein

Cass Sunstein—one of today’s most influential legal scholars and co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Nudge—will join Tyler Cowen for a wide-ranging dialogue as part of the Mercatus Center’s Conversations with Tyler series.

Not only Cass Sunstien the the most frequently cited American legal scholar, he has also applied his keen and curious mind to a diverse array of topics, including marriage, animal rights, conspiracy theories, the spread of knowledge in society, and much more. His most recent book, The World According to Star Wars, is a celebration of George Lucas’ masterpiece as it relates to history, presidential politics, law, economics, fatherhood, and culture.

Sunstein’s work on “nudge” theory has popularized the idea that private and public institutions can influence people to make better choices by altering the way choices are presented based on knowledge of human behavior. His work not only brought behavioral economics to the mainstream, but it also shaped policy decisions in the United States and Great Britain. Before joining Harvard and starting their Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, he was the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama Administration from 2009-2012. Previously, he served as a professor in the law and political science departments at the University of Chicago.

Sunstein is author of over three dozen books including Republic.com (2001), Risk and Reason (2002), Why Societies Need Dissent (2003), The Second Bill of Rights (2004), Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (2005), Worst-Case Scenarios (2001), Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), Why Nudge? (2014) and Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas (2014).

The conversation will be followed by a book signing and reception. Copies of The World According to Star Wars will be available for sale for $22.00. Any George Mason University faculty or staff member will receive a 10 percent discount. For questions, please contact Bethany Stalter at bstalter@mercatus.gmu.edu.