Margen
You tick a box on a form, or you leave it blank, and you think that is where you decided something about your own body. In 2003, Eric Johnson and Daniel Goldstein published an uncomfortable comparison in the journal Science: in Germany 12 % of the population was on record as an organ donor; in Austria, 99.98 %. Neighbouring countries, same language, almost identical opinion polls.
The two ask the same question backwards. Germany wants you to say yes in order to sign up; Austria assumes yes and wants you to ask to opt out. Denmark, using the German form, stayed at 4.25 %; Sweden, using the Austrian one, reached 85.9 %.
The box that comes pre-set ends up being almost everybody’s answer, because reading forms is tiring and deciding is more tiring still. And that does not move only donations: it moves travel insurance, data permissions, workplace pension plans and subscriptions that renew themselves.
Tomorrow, on the first paper you sign — a renewal, a sign-up, a purchase on your phone — look for the boxes that are already ticked before you look at the price. They are ticked because somebody counted how many people look at them.