IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/102575.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Future imperfect: behavioural economics and government paternalism

Author

Listed:
  • Le Grand, Julian

Abstract

Economists and others have used the results from behavioral economics to justify paternalistic government policies, aimed at changing an individual’s behavior in the present so as to improve that individual’s well-being in the future. Examples include the automatic enrollment in pension schemes and anti-smoking measures, such as banning smoking in public places or proposals for a smoking license. But these - and the economic analyses underlying them – have been challenged on the grounds that they arbitrarily privilege one set of preferences over another. The privileged preferences include those of an ‘inner rational agent’ and those of the future over the present. This paper addresses this criticism and puts forward two new conceptions of - and justifications for – these kinds of policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Le Grand, Julian, 2018. "Future imperfect: behavioural economics and government paternalism," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102575, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:102575
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/102575/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hausman, Daniel M., 2018. "Efficacious and Ethical Public Paternalism," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 5(3-4), pages 261-280, December.
    2. R. H. Strotz, 1955. "Myopia and Inconsistency in Dynamic Utility Maximization," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 23(3), pages 165-180.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kemptner, Daniel & Tolan, Songül, 2018. "The role of time preferences in educational decision making," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 25-39.
    2. Xiangyu Cui & Xun Li & Duan Li & Yun Shi, 2014. "Time Consistent Behavior Portfolio Policy for Dynamic Mean-Variance Formulation," Papers 1408.6070, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2015.
    3. Yu-Jui Huang & Adrien Nguyen-Huu, 2018. "Time-consistent stopping under decreasing impatience," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 69-95, January.
    4. , G. & , & ,, 2008. "Non-Bayesian updating: A theoretical framework," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 3(2), June.
    5. Jawwad Noor, 2005. "Choice and Normative Preference," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2005-039, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    6. Laureti, Carolina & Szafarz, Ariane, 2023. "Banking regulation and costless commitment contracts for time-inconsistent agents," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    7. Maria Arvaniti & Chandra K. Krishnamurthy & Anne-Sophie Crépin, 2019. "Time-consistent resource management with regime shifts," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 19/329, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    8. Markus Haavio & Kaisa Kotakorpi, 2012. "Sin Licenses Revisited," CESifo Working Paper Series 4010, CESifo.
    9. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti, 2006. "Gender roles and technological progress," 2006 Meeting Papers 411, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Uri Ben-Zion & Jan Pieter Krahnen & TAL SHAVIT, 2007. "Subjective Evaluation Of Delayed Risky Outcomes: An Experimental Approach," Working Papers 0709, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    11. Fahrenwaldt, Matthias Albrecht & Jensen, Ninna Reitzel & Steffensen, Mogens, 2020. "Nonrecursive separation of risk and time preferences," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 95-108.
    12. Groneck, Max & Ludwig, Alexander & Zimper, Alexander, 2016. "A life-cycle model with ambiguous survival beliefs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 137-180.
    13. Liyuan Wang & Zhiping Chen, 2019. "Stochastic Game Theoretic Formulation for a Multi-Period DC Pension Plan with State-Dependent Risk Aversion," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-16, January.
    14. Zhang, Caibin & Liang, Zhibin, 2022. "Optimal time-consistent reinsurance and investment strategies for a jump–diffusion financial market without cash," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    15. repec:cep:stitep:/2012/563 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Lefgren, Lars J. & Stoddard, Olga B. & Stovall, John E., 2021. "Rationalizing self-defeating behaviors: Theory and evidence," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    17. Ales, Laurence & Sleet, Christopher, 2014. "Revision proofness," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 324-355.
    18. Boissonnet, Niels & Ghersengorin, Alexis & Gleyze, Simon, 2020. "Revealed Deliberate Preference Changes," MPRA Paper 101756, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Ryoji Ohdoi & Koichi Futagami, 2021. "Welfare implications of non-unitary time discounting," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 85-115, February.
    20. Daniel Schatz & Rabih Bashroush, 0. "Economic valuation for information security investment: a systematic literature review," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-24.
    21. Dessi, Roberta & Zhao, Xiaojian, 2011. "Self-Esteem, Shame and Personal Motivation," TSE Working Papers 10-191, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Dec 2013.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    behavioral economics; government paternalism;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:102575. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.