Switching a retirement plan from opt-in to opt-out tripled how many people saved
Economists Brigitte Madrian and Dennis Shea studied a company that switched its 401(k) plan to automatically enroll new hires unless they opted out, instead of requiring them to opt in. Participation jumped from around 37% to over 85% almost overnight, even though opting out took no more effort than opting in once did. The default option isn't neutral; it does a huge share of the deciding.