Evolutionary economics and the case for a constitutional libertarian paternalism—a comment on Martin Binder, “should evolutionary economists embrace libertarian paternalism?”

Christian Schubert

Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2014, vol. 24, issue 5, 1107-1113

Abstract: In his article “Should evolutionary economists embrace libertarian paternalism?”(Journal of Evolutionary Economics 24(3), 2014 , 515–539) Martin Binder discusses the pros and cons of “libertarian paternalism” (LP) from an explicitly evolutionary viewpoint, concluding that as a general rule, evolutionary economists should be cautious regarding this new and highly influential policy approach. In this comment I argue that Binder starts from an incomplete model of the institutional status quo and neglects an obvious alternative to the standard variant of LP, namely, a constitutionally constrained LP. Most of Binder’s objections do not apply with equal force to such a refined variant of LP. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Keywords: B52; D63; Constitutional Economics; Libertarian Paternalism; Nudges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00191-014-0379-z

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