Autonomy-enhancing paternalism

Martin Binder and Leonhard Lades

No 2014-09, Stirling Economics Discussion Papers from University of Stirling, Division of Economics

Abstract: We present a form of soft paternalism called "autonomy-enhancing paternalism" that seeks to in-crease individual well-being by facilitating the individual ability to make critically reflected, au-tonomous decisions. The focus of autonomy-enhancing paternalism is on helping individuals to become better decision-makers, rather than on helping them by making better decisions for them. Autonomy-enhancing paternalism acknowledges that behavioral interventions can change the strength of decision-making anomalies over time, and favors those interventions that improve, ra-ther than reduce, individuals' ability to make good and unbiased decisions. By this it prevents ma-nipulation of the individual by the soft paternalist, accounts for the heterogeneity of individuals, and counteracts slippery slope arguments by decreasing the probability of future paternalistic inter-ventions. Moreover, autonomy-enhancing paternalism can be defended based on both liberal val-ues and welfare considerations.

Keywords: welfare economics; preference learning; autonomy; behavioral economics; libertarian paternalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-hap
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http://hdl.handle.net/1893/20987

Related works:
Journal Article: Autonomy-Enhancing Paternalism (2015)
Working Paper: Autonomy-enhancing paternalism (2014)
Working Paper: Autonomy-enhancing Paternalism (2014)
Working Paper: Autonomy-enhancing paternalism (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:stl:stledp:2014-09

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