Libertarian Paternalism: Making Rational Fools

D. Wade Hands ()

Review of Behavioral Economics, 2021, vol. 8, issue 3-4, 305-326

Abstract: This paper examines criticisms of libertarian paternalism, focusing in particular on so-called knowledge problems: the set of problems associated with the question of whether a choice architect would, or even could, have sufficient information to implement a successful libertarian paternalist policy. The paper builds on arguments presented in Mario Rizzo and Glen Whitman’s book Escaping Paternalism: Rationality, Behavioral Economics and Public Policy (2020). Although the paper supports Rizzo and Whitman’s arguments about knowledge problems, it moves in a different, more social, direction when it comes to the implications of these criticisms for microeconomic-based governmental policy more generally.

Keywords: Behavioral economics; nudging; paternalism; rational choice; welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B4 D6 D9 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:now:jnlrbe:105.00000144

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