Skip to main content

The Consequences of Libertarian Paternalism


Many of you are probably familiar with Thaler and Sunstein's breakthrough book, "Nudge", a behavioral economics book that caught fire a couple of years back with a philosophy they coined, "Libertarian Paternalism".

Yeah, that philosophy didn't come across too well in the libertarian community. But, not all of their recommendations are as creepy as they sound. And from a behavioral economics standpoint, it's simply fascinating material.

For instance, economists recently tried to determine why certain countries had such high rates of organ donation, and some had such small rates? Especially when the countries with such disparate ratios seemed to have so many other similarities?

The answer? If, when renewing your driver's license, your form says "check this box if you would like to opt-in to your state's organ donation program." Most people don't.

But when your form says, "check this box if you would like to opt-OUT of your state's organ donation program." Most people also don't.

What's going on here? Laziness. And that's the idea behind "Nudge". The government making the default choice the subjective "best" one. Knowing that your laziness will default you into the "best" choice. For instance, they theorize that 10% of your salary should automatically go into your savings account. Unless you opt-out of course. Their theory is that most people are too lazy to do so. And so they get to experience the effectual benefits of saving.

As a libertarian, you should rightly be concerned with the possible extents of this philosophy. But "Nudge" led me to a thought the other day, that someone quickly characterized as paternalistic. And I wanted your feedback.

I have alcoholics on both sides of my family. I see the devastating effects firsthand. These people who, in their best moments, deeply desire to be free from this burden.

Here was my idea. A recovering alcoholic could willingly go to the DMV, and have a small stamp put on their license. A "do not serve me alcohol" stamp.

My friend called this "big brother". I defended it by claiming this was a willing process. There would be no mandate. And he countered that I was depending on state law that requires establishments to card people.

And at that point, I turn to you. How often is pragmatism un-libertarian?


Eric Olsen,
Regular Columnist, THL
Articles | Author's Page | Website
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The American Tea Party 2009: Goals, Objectives, and Principles

Image by André Karwath ( CC ) I do not presume to be the mouthpiece or leader of the 21st century American Tea Party movement, so the following is a summary of my personal vision for the modern American Tea Party, a list of objectives I believe it should seek to accomplish, and a set of principles I believe it should strive to embody. I am writing this because the Tea Party movement will fail to create real change unless it finds direction in sound principles and takes specific, practical steps to ensure the implementation of those principles in public policy. I. Principles Any political movement is doomed to failure so long as it is merely fighting for a particular, isolated policy preference or even a set of such preferences, absent of any context and underived from or related to a unified framework for viewing reality, humankind's role in reality, and government's role in humanity. The following (originally published in the Dec. 2008 article " Six Reasons Not To Bailo...
Read more

Ron Paul’s Devious Plan to Steal the Presidency

This is an absolute hoot! Ron Paul hating Republicans are in panic mode. The website Hillbuzz.org includes in its blogroll Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and Conservatives4Palin. Hillbuzz is so utterly revolting that I may just have to subscribe to its updates. Up until yesterday, I really hadn’t taken the Ron Paul campaign very seriously. Most non-Paul voters probably felt like I did, and laughed him off as that “kooky Uncle” who didn’t have a chance in hell to win the Republican nomination for President. Well, I’ve changed my mind. Big time. Yesterday I attended the Republican organizational convention for my Senate district here in Minnesota, and what I witnessed was an organized take-over of our nomination process by Ron Paul cultists. They came to this convention with the sole intent to take over as many of the delegate seats as they could, and sadly, they succeeded. Read the rest here Hillbuzz 
Read more

IRS Admits Targeting Tea Party!

You think Matt Drudge is just being hysterical in that screenshot above? With that ALL CAPS headline about the IRS? Being hysterical, while trying to sell you chocolate covered strawberries for Mother's Day? Well guess again, because you know this is seriously crazy when even the AP is using all caps for their headline , and filing it under a subdomain called "bigstory": The AP says : The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday. Organizations were singled out because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups. In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said. "That was wrong. T...
Read more
–––As Featured On–––