Who wants paternalism?

Sofie Kragh Pedersen, Alexander Koch and Julia Nafziger

Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University

Abstract: Abstract Little is known about the demand side of paternalism. We investigate attitudes towards paternalism among Danish students. The main question is whether demand for paternalism is related to self-control, either because people with self-control problems seek commitment devices to overcome these problems, or because people with good self-control want those who lack it to change their behaviors. We find no evidence linking self-control to attitudes towards weak forms of paternalism (e.g. nudges or information about health consequences). But respondents with good selfcontrol are significantly more favorable towards strong paternalism (e.g. restricting choices or sin taxes) than those struggling with self-control.

Keywords: Self-control; paternalism; commitment; political attitudes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C83 D03 D6 H11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27
Date: 2012-09-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cwa and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: WHO WANTS PATERNALISM? (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aah:aarhec:2012-22

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