Un pequeño empujón: medios de fomento no tradicional como alternativa para enfrentar nuevos desafíos regulatorios sin intervención estatal

Abstract

Administrative Law is, in our times, also a fundamental tool to align public and private interests. To meet this goal it is key to reduce direct state intervention in economic activities and design regulation to replace coercion by persuasion. The State (and especially the Executive Branch) has the challenge of regulating to convince. In this sense, promotion, as a technique of administrative activity, is the means that holds the greatest potential. This article proposes a review of the classic figure of promotion to help it be considered as an alternative to reduce direct state intervention in private activities, without neglecting general interest objectives. Resorting to the help of behavioral sciences and, particularly, to the figure of “nudge”, it will be shown that the State, in addition to imposing costs or sanctions to encourage or discourage certain behaviors, has the possibility of motivating people to do what is convenient for the common good. Many governments around the world are successfully implementing this type of regulations that seek to persuade without restricting personal freedom. Argentina should not be an exception.