Book Review: In “Sludge,” Sunstein Shines a Light in the Bureaucratic Darkness

By: Philip K. Howard

No one likes bureaucracy. Indeed, every winning presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter has promised to overhaul it. Yet bureaucracy keeps growing. To teachers, principals, and others frustrated by red tape, it can only be good news that distinguished law professor Cass Sunstein champions the cause of “radical simplification” in his short new book, Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It. In his earlier book Nudge (co-authored with economist Richard Thaler), Sunstein looked at how legal structures and other “choice architecture” can steer people toward responsible choices—for example, making workers opt out rather than opt in to retirement plans. Nudge championed positive incentives. In Sludge, Sunstein takes aim at the negative aspects of legal structures.

Sludge is intended to be a clarion call to clean out the time-wasting red tape that bogs people down in many work settings, including in schools: “In education, there is far too much sludge, and it hurts students, teachers, and parents alike,” he writes. Sunstein sees sludge as a grab bag of “paperwork requirements, waiting time, reporting requirements, clearance processes, and the like.” The examples provided suggest a broad range of categories and motivations. For example, reporting requirements are imposed because public officials “need to know how programs are working.” Other mandates are aimed at “program integrity,” in an effort to deter fraud and waste. Occupational-licensing requirements for barbers, manicurists, and other specialists are notoriously imposed as barriers to deter new competitors.

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