In a recent working paper, Cronqvist, Thaler and Yu study an aspect of nudges which has often been underestimated, their persistence over long periods of time.
The ones under study in this article are the nudges implemented in the Swedish Premium Pension Plan from 2000 onward, which allowed to dramatically increase the opt-in rate for potential participants to the scheme.
By analyzing 7,315,209 retirement plans in Sweden during the period 2000 to 2016, the authors conclude that the effects of nudging in this case were indeed persistent and seem to last nearly two decades… “if not forever”.