Government Paternalism (ebook)

Argumento de Government Paternalism (ebook)

Should governments save people from themselves? Do governments have the right to influence citizens' behavior related to smoking tobacco, eating too much, not saving enough, drinking alcohol, or taking marijuana—or does this create a nanny state, leading to infantilization, demotivation, and breaches in individual autonomy? Looking at examples from both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, Government Paternalism examines the justifications for, and the prevalence of, government involvement and considers when intervention might or might not be acceptable. Building on developments in philosophy, behavioral economics, and psychology, Julian Le Grand and Bill New explore the roles, boundaries, and responsibilities of the government and its citizens.

Le Grand and New investigate specific policy areas, including smoking, saving for pensions, and assisted suicide. They discuss legal restrictions on risky behavior, taxation of harmful activities, and subsidies for beneficial activities. And they pay particular attention to "nudge" or libertarian paternalist proposals that try to change the context in which individuals make decisions so that they make the right ones. Le Grand and New argue that individuals often display "reasoning failure": an inability to achieve the ends that they set themselves. Such instances are ideal for paternalistic interventions—for though such interventions might impinge on autonomy, the impact can be outweighed by an improvement in well-being.

Government Paternalism rigorously considers whether the state should guide citizen decision making in positive ways and if so, how this should be achieved.

"This well-structured, clearly presented, and well-written book steers a sophisticated course between the extremes of antipaternalism and paternalism by identifying the boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate paternalism. The current debate on the policies that nudge individuals to make better decisions makes this discussion timely. There is no book available that treats the same subject with as much range."--Alan Hamlin, University of Manchester

"The purpose of this book is to identify the conditions under which paternalist policies are justified and to distinguish those that are justified from those that are not. Government Paternalism will appeal to political theorists as well as general readers who have thought about concerns like seat belts or antismoking legislation and who are looking for original, rigorous, and insightful discussion."--Albert Weale, University College London0Preface vii
1 Introduction 1
2 What Is Paternalism? 7
The Interference in Freedom 8
Promoting the Good 16
The Question of Consent 18
Conclusion: A Definition of Paternalism 22
3 Types of Paternalism 25
Legal Paternalism 25
Soft and Hard Paternalism 26
Means and Ends Paternalism 27
Perfectionism 30
Volitional and Critical Paternalism 33
Moral Paternalism and Legal Moralism 35
Other Categories of Paternalism 36
Conclusion 38
4 Paternalism in Practice 41
Types of Government Intervention 42
Nonpaternalistic Justifications for State Intervention 53
Do Nonpaternalist Justifications Explain Paternalist Laws and Regulations? 59
Conclusion 77
5 Paternalism and Well-Being 79
The Classical Economic Model and Its Challengers 80
The Evidence on Reasoning Failure 82
Ends-Related Paternalism 101
Conclusion: Means-Related versus Ends-Related Paternalism 103
6 The Nanny State: The Challenge from Autonomy 105
Autonomy 106
Autonomy and Motivation 108
Soft Paternalism 111
Autonomy Failure from External Causes 112
Autonomy Failure from Internal Causes 116
When Should the Soft Paternalist Intervene? 119
Does Soft Paternalism Avoid Offending Autonomy? 121
Overriding Autonomy: Hard Paternalism 127
Conclusion 131
7 Libertarian Paternalism 133
Definitions 134
Nudge Ideas: The Case For 135
Nudge Ideas: The Case Against 139
Conclusion 145
8 Paternalism and Policy 147
The Groups Affected: Well-Being and Autonomy 147
Types of Policy 151
Smoking 154
Pensions 159
Assisted Suicide 161
Conclusion 166
9 The Politics of Paternalism 167
Can the State Do Better? 167
Will the State Do Better? 170
Conclusion 174
10 Nanny State or Helpful Friend? 177
Bibliography 183
Index 195