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Sherzod Abdukadirov

  • Former Research Fellow

Sherzod Abdukadirov was a research fellow in the Program for Economic Research on Regulation at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He specialized in the federal regulatory process, institutional reforms, food and health, and social complexity.

Abdukadirov has prepared numerous policy briefs on regulatory issues, has written for US News & World Report, and also for scholarly journals such as Regulation, Constitutional Political Economy, and Asian Journal of Political Science.

Abdukadirov received his PhD in public policy from George Mason University and his BS in information technology from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Publications & Appearances

Taking Paternalism Out of Nudge: The Case of Medication Nonadherence among Patients with Chronic Conditions

Over the past few years, the federal government and local governments have increasingly turned to “nudges” as solutions to many problems caused by behavioral biases. Such efforts often run into opposition owing to their paternalistic nature, but nonpaternalistic nudges can be equally effective at improving consumers’ choices. In contrast to paternalistic nudges, nonpaternalistic policies do not impose policymakers’ errors on consumers if policymakers misdiagnose the underlying behavioral bias, and they thus avoid harming consumers by pushing them toward suboptimal choices.