Archive for 15 December 2008
Rizzo and Whitman on the New Paternalism
| Peter Klein |
Mario Rizzo and Glenn Whitman offer a Hayekian critique of Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their new paper, “The Knowledge Problem of New Paternalism.” From the abstract:
The “new paternalism” is a set of policy prescriptions based on recent findings in behavioral economics whose purpose is to help individuals overcome a wide variety of behavior and cognitive biases. According to its proponents, it does not aim at replacing the preferences of individuals with those of the paternalist but rather to uncover the “true” preferences of individuals, that is, the preferences they would have if they had perfect knowledge, unlimited cognitive abilities and no lack of willpower.
The purpose of this Article is to show that new paternalist policies founder on the shoals of a profound knowledge problem revealed in Friedrich Hayek’s famous critique of central planning. Feasible policies require not only accurate scientific knowledge but also accurate knowledge of “the particular circumstances of time and place” that constitute the local and personal knowledge of individuals. This knowledge is not accessible by paternalists.
See also this exchange between Rizzo and Thaler in last year’s WSJ.
Organizations and Markets 
Recent Comments