Introduction

Mark D. White

A chapter in The Illusion of Well-Being, 2014, pp 1-7 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This book is about many things, but at its heart it’s about the right of all people to lead their lives according to their own goals, dreams, and values. Most modern Western democracies are based on this idea, also known as liberal neutrality, maintaining that the state should have no say in how people choose to run their lives as long as they don’t wrongfully harm others in the process. Depending on your political orientation, you may believe that the state should limit itself to enforcing basic laws and providing national defense, or you may believe that it has a more positive role in helping the disadvantaged and supplying essential services such as education and health care. Few people on either side of the political spectrum, however, believe that the government should decide how we should run our lives. But as I’ll argue in this book, it does, though in a subtle way that is unlikely to inspire cries of government overreach and tyranny.

Keywords: Gross Domestic Product; Political Spectrum; Libertarian Paternalism; True Interest; Liberal Neutrality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-36115-8_1

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137361158_1

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