What is sludge? Friction. Paperwork requirements. Waiting time. Online forms filled with confusing jargon. Reduced operating hours. The tedious, arcane, and (in some cases) disenfranchising hurdle preventing someone from accessing a service they’re entitled to?

Yep, that’s sludge. And the sludgier a process, the more likely ordinary citizens—especially those already marginalized—will give up and walk away from vital benefits or aid. But we don’t have to settle for this sludge-filled world. That’s the argument in Cass Sunstein’s new book, Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak to Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School and the Chair of the Technical Advisory Group on Behavioral Insights and Sciences at the World Health Organization, about his new book, how sludge is running amok, and why sludge-reduction is another form of harm-reduction.

Buy Cass' book here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/sludge

Learn more about Cass and his work here: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10871/Sunstein

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

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