Friday, April 9, 2010

Excellent Criticism of Behavioral Economics

A well thought, simple and honest criticism of nudges (thanks):

"My question is this: why is it that soft paternalism is always applied to areas where the nudgers want
more government involvement? Why is it never applied to instances in which government is involved in ways that go beyond what nudging theory would suggest? My guess is that if one thought about the FDA or Medicare or housing subsidies from a "nudge" perspective, the result would be government policy that is much less intrusive than what we have now. Yet we never hear about such implications of soft paternalism.
When soft paternalism is used to denounce irrational state policy, I will take it as friendly to libertarians. As long as it is used only to suggest more arenas for government interference, I will view it as just another rationale for ruling-class hegemony."

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