Soft Paternalism and Nudging - Critique of the Behavioral Foundations

Pasche, Markus (2014): Soft Paternalism and Nudging - Critique of the Behavioral Foundations.

Abstract

This brief note rises doubts on the argument that nudging will help people to behave more rational in terms of their own preferences. This justification of soft paternalism overlooks some methodological problems of expected utility theory which are one of the roots of behavioral economics.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: soft paternalism; nudging; behavioral economics, utility theory, rationality
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B4 - Economic Methodology; D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D03 - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles; D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D04 - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation, Implementation, and Evaluation

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