OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Default effects are pervasive, but the reason they arise is often unclear. We study optimal policy when it is ambiguous whether an observed default effect reflects a welfare-relevant preference or a mistake by decision-makers. Within a broad class of models, determining optimal policy
is impossible without resolving this normative ambiguity. Depending on the resolution, optimal policy tends in opposite directions: either minimizing the number of non-default choices or promoting active choices. We illustrate our results using data on pension contribution defaults.
When selecting a non-default option reduces employee welfare by less than $160, the optimal policy promotes active choices.
