Cass Sunstein

An op-ed by Cass Sunstein. A lot of conspiracy theorists are neither ignorant nor ill-educated. On the contrary, they can be spectacularly well-informed, at least on the topics that interest them. (Try arguing with one; they probably know a lot more than you do.) Why, then, do they accept theories that are patently inconsistent with reality? One reason involves their suspicious and in some cases paranoid natures. Want to know whether your neighbors will accept a particular conspiracy theory? Just ask them what they think about other conspiracy theories. Those who insist that the Apollo moon landings were faked are more likely to believe that the United States caused the 9/11 attacks.

An op-ed by Cass Sunstein. In the domain of foreign affairs, 2014 has brought heated national debates on an impressive range of subjects: Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Syria, Ebola, immigration policy and, most recently, torture, North Korea and Cuba. One of the more remarkable features of all these discussions has been the consistent grace of President George W. Bush. This month, Bush offered a rare comment on a public debate. Responding to the Senate’s release of the CIA torture report, he said, “We're fortunate to have men and women who work hard at the CIA serving on our behalf. These are patriots and whatever the report says, if it diminishes their contributions to our country, it is way off base." Note that Bush paid tribute to the employees of the CIA -- and pointedly declined to take a shot at the Barack Obama administration.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. Over the past two months, the National Hockey League has experienced a baffling outbreak of mumps. Thirteen players are said to have it, and there's no telling when the outbreak will end. It is a story that seems to have stepped from the mid-20th century...By 2012, the number of reported cases shrunk to 229. Mumps has hardly been wiped out, but in terms of public health, the improvement has been nothing short of spectacular...The success story is worth underlining because both Canada and the U.S. are now experiencing an anti-vaccination movement, limited to a small part of the population, but nonetheless worthy of concern.

An op-ed by Cass Sunstein. The Becons, in just their third year of existence, are already the most coveted of the year-end movie awards. (For those who have been on Mars, the Becons are the Behavioral Economics Oscars.) This year has been a spectacular one for movies with behavioral economics themes, and it has been unusually difficult to pick the winners. But without further ado:

How much power should a president have? Anyone who thought America settled that question late in the 18th Century with the ratification of the Constitution hasn’t been paying attention to the news. The Speaker, John Boehner, has hired law professor Jonathan Turley to represent the House in a lawsuit over President Obama’s unilateral changes to the health care law...Into this fight wades a Harvard Law School professor, Cass Sunstein, with a new paper that attempts to provide a theoretical rationale for increased executive authority and discretion. Professor Sunstein, who served in the Obama administration, offers his essay with the warning that it is “subject to substantial revision” and was “originally intended for oral presentation” as the keynote lecture at the University of Chicago Legal Forum. Professor Sunstein’s essay defines and describes a new ill he calls “Partyism.”

Cass Sunstein ’75, J.D. ’78, has been regarded as one of the country’s most influential and adventurous legal scholars for a generation. His scholarly articles have been cited more often than those of any of his peers ever since he was a young professor. At 60, now Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, he publishes significant books as often as many productive academics publish scholarly articles—three of them last year. In each, Sunstein comes across as a brainy and cheerful technocrat, practiced at thinking about the consequences of rules, regulations, and policies, with attention to the linkages between particular means and ends. Drawing on insights from cognitive psychology as well as behavioral economics, he is especially focused on mastering how people make significant choices that promote or undercut their own well-being and that of society, so government and other institutions can reinforce the good and correct for the bad in shaping policy.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. It is often said that people who don't want to solve the problem of climate change reject the underlying science, and hence don't think there's any problem to solve. But consider a different possibility: Because they reject the proposed solution, they dismiss the science. If this is right, our whole picture of the politics of climate change is off. Here’s an analogy. Say your doctor tells you that you must undergo a year of grueling treatment for a serious illness. You might question the diagnosis and insist on getting a second opinion. But if the doctor says you can cure the same problem simply by taking a pill, you might just take the pill without asking further questions.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed, after White House review, an ozone regulation very similar to one that President Barack Obama personally blocked some three years earlier. On both the right and the left, and in news stories as well, the new proposal is being portrayed as an intensely political reversal: Unburdened by the prospect of reelection, the president is said to be following his instincts, appealing to his base and ignoring the complaints of the business community, to which he capitulated in 2011. Nothing could be further from the truth.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. The airwaves are alive with Thanksgiving and Christmas calorie stories. Makes sense. But are those pecan pie dissections really all that relevant? After all, holidays come around once a year. What's more important is what you take in on normal days...A new rule from the Food and Drug Administration will require calorie and other nutrition information to be disclosed by chain restaurants -- including bakeries, cafeterias, coffee shops, convenience stores, movie theaters and vending machines. The rule might turn out to be one of the most important regulatory initiatives of the past decade, with a significant effect on consumer behavior and public health.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. Both sides in the debate over President Barack Obama's immigration reforms have offered simple legal arguments. According to critics, the president is acting unlawfully by defying acts of Congress and arrogating the authority of a king. According to supporters, Obama is acting within his broad discretion as chief executive to deport those he thinks should be deported and let others stay in the U.S. But the administration's own legal analysis is much subtler and more precise. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel argues that the Department of Homeland Security does indeed have the authority to “prioritize” the removal of certain categories of undocumented aliens, and it can create a “deferred-action program” to let some people remain in the U.S. for a specified period. But it has to be careful about how it decides who gets to stay.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. “Global warming strikes America! Brrrr!” So tweeted Missouri Representative Vicky Hartzler last week, as much of the U.S. experienced extreme cold. (In Buffalo, it was a full Snowpocalypse.) Do frigid temperatures give you doubts about global warming? You wouldn't be alone. When people think the day’s weather is exceptionally cold, research shows, they're less likely to be concerned about global warming. And when the day seems unusually hot, concern jumps.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. In recent years, many federal judges have voted to strike down bans on same-sex marriage, in part because no one has defended them well. This month, however, Judge Jeffrey Sutton, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, produced the most powerful defense to date -- one that will give the Supreme Court a serious test. Judge Sutton acknowledged that “the question is not whether American law will allow gay couples to marry; it is when and how that will happen.” Nor did he lament what he saw as history’s arc. Instead he argued that, for federal courts, the only question is: Who decides? His answer: not judges, but the democratic process.

The insurance company MetLife is unhappy that it has been added to the list of firms that get special attention from regulators for being too big, or too interconnected, to fail. It appears to want to fight the designation by arguing that the government has not provided the numbers supporting its analysis, and that this failure to do the math makes the designation unreasonable, and, therefore, illegal....In short, the government did not use math to defend its designation. Should it be required to do so? Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s first regulatory czar and now a law professor at Harvard, has said he believes that agencies should make the quantitative case whenever possible. Another Harvard Law professor, John Coates, on the other hand, argues that the assumptions involved in assessing the costs and benefits of financial regulation look too much like ever-changing guesstimates.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. Of the many changes that will result from the midterm elections, here's a big one that has received scant attention: Expect hearings and investigations. Lots of them. When the president’s party controls the Senate, the chairs of its various committees tend to be relatively friendly. Yes, they hold hearings and engage in investigations, but as a general rule, the process is cordial not adversarial.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. In tomorrow's election, the Republican Party seems poised to make significant gains in the U.S. Senate and the House, and might well end up with control of both. If so, how will it define itself? It is tempting to answer by pointing to concrete policy proposals -- reducing regulation, promoting free trade, cutting the federal budget. But does any general theory, or approach to government, unify those proposals? In a magnificent essay, one of modern conservatism’s greatest heroes, Friedrich Hayek, offered an answer. Published in 1960, Hayek’s “Why I Am Not A Conservative” deserves careful attention today, perhaps above all from Republicans.

Introducing a “foreign language shield” into a decision-making process is a proven way of making better decisions, according to Cass Sunstein...at Harvard Law School. Sunstein, a former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), told the Fiduciary Investors Symposium (FIS) at Harvard University that the Obama administration had introduced a rigorous cost/benefit analysis of any and all proposed regulatory changes, and this had acted as an effective “foreign-language shield” that improved the impact of new regulations. “If you’re an adviser, get the cost/benefit figures, the risk/return figures, the algorithms, up and running. It’s a great safeguard,” he said.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. Imagine that whenever you planned to do volunteer work, the government told you that you must also pay a small tax. Or suppose that whenever you gave money to charity, you were charged a levy. Or that every time you gave blood, you had to start by writing a check to the Internal Revenue Service. Fortunately, most countries don't tax people for good works. But private and public institutions do -- by taking up too much of people’s time.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. In 2012, more than 33,000 Americans died on the highways. In some recent years, the flu has killed tens of thousands. Alcohol is associated with some 70,000 deaths annually, weight problems with more than 300,000, and smoking with over 400,000. Even a single one of these preventable deaths is a tragedy. But the risks they pose do not greatly trouble most people in their daily lives. What's worrying many people much more these days is the far lower risk, at least in the U.S. and Europe, of contracting Ebola. What, then, can public officials do to stem the public anxiety? The problem is that Ebola fear presents a delicate challenge -- one that official assurances might just make worse, at least if they breed distrust.

An op-ed by Cass R. Sunstein. Winter is coming, and you might be tempted to start buying warm clothes, especially on the first day the temperature drops drastically. If so, be careful: You might purchase something you don't really want. According to standard economic theory, of course, that warning shouldn't be necessary. Human beings are rational, and on an especially cold day, it’s perfectly rational to get that winter coat. Psychologists and behavioral economists aren’t so sure. They've seen that when people are cold, they often project that feeling onto the future. People display “projection bias” when they underestimate how much their current tastes and values will later change.