Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE ECONOMICS OF BUSINESS
Volume 16, Issue 3, Pages 365-373Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/13571510903227064
Keywords
Libertarian Paternalism; Soft Paternalism; Nudging
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Funding
- ESRC [ES/H004831/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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This paper reviews the case for libertarian paternalism presented by Thaler and Sunstein in Nudge. Thaler and Sunstein argue that individuals' preferences are often incoherent, making paternalism is unavoidable; however, paternalistic interventions should 'nudge' individuals without restricting their choices, and should nudge them towards what they would have chosen had they not been subject to specific limitations of rationality. I argue that the latter criterion provides inadequate guidance to nudgers. It is inescapably normative, and so allows nudgers' conceptions of well-being to override those of nudgees. Even if nudgees' rationality were unbounded, their revealed preferences might still be incoherent.
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