Heap-ing on Lippmann: liberalising behavioural public policy

Adam Oliver

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: In several articles over the past decade, Shaun Hargreaves Heap has proposed a liberal, constitutional approach to behavioural public policy that conflicts with the paternalistic consequentialist approaches that have dominated the field to date. In recent years, I too have developed a behavioural public policy framework that sits within the classical liberal tradition. Recently, in commenting on my book, A Political Economy of Behavioural Public Policy, Hargreaves Heap identified similarities between my approach and that of the great 20th Century journalist and scholar, Walter Lippmann. In this article, I outline Lippmann’s arguments in his classic book, The Good Society, in some detail, and reach the conclusion that Hargreaves Heap was right in suggesting that I am a Lippmannite. Finally, given that Hargreaves Heap and I share a belief in liberalism, I summarise why I think he is a Lippmannite too.

Keywords: behavioral economics; behavioral public policy; externalities; liberalism; regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 B20 B25 P00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2024-05-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-hpe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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Published in Review of Behavioural Economics, 8, May, 2024, 11(2), pp. 255 - 273. ISSN: 2326-6198

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