Paternalism Attitudes and the Happiness Value of Fundamental Freedoms

Kai Konrad and Sven Simon

Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance

Abstract: The Governmental Paternalism Index is a new empirical index that measures individuals´ attitudes toward governmental regulation and prescriptions that aim at preventing potentially self-harming behavior. Our results indicate considerable heterogeneity in how individuals support, or object to, such governmental prescriptions. We design and use this new index in a survey on life satisfaction during the Covid-19 pandemic to assess how restrictions of personal freedoms a¤ect life satisfaction, and how the attitudes toward governmental paternalism a¤ect this relationship. Our results indicate that losses in life satisfaction in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic are mainly attributed to restrictions in personal freedom and to a negative outlook on societal change, and that individuals´ value in the Governmental Paternalism Index is a major determinant of the size of this e¤ect.

Keywords: governmental regulation; Governmental Paternalism Index; self-harming behavior; life satisfaction; civil liberties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 H11 H12 K38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2021-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap and nep-law
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mpi:wpaper:tax-mpg-rps-2021-04

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