{"id":50902,"date":"2021-10-12T17:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T21:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=50902"},"modified":"2021-10-17T17:33:55","modified_gmt":"2021-10-17T21:33:55","slug":"nudge-libertarian-paternalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nudge-libertarian-paternalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Nudge: Libertarian Paternalism and Choice Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is libertarian paternalism<\/a> in the book Nudge? <\/em>How would choice designers<\/a> manipulate the public’s decisions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Nudge, <\/em>libertarian paternalism is prioritizing personal freedom while limiting choice to bring about better results. Authors Thaler and Sunstein thought it would be a good system, but critics don’t agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn about how libertarian paternalism works in Nudge<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Libertarian Paternalism in Nudge<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thaler and Sunstein\u2019s object in Nudge <\/em>isn\u2019t simply to provide solutions to people\u2019s habits of making poor choices for themselves; rather, it\u2019s to introduce an umbrella approach to public policy: libertarian paternalism<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Nudge, <\/em>libertarian paternalism describes a combination of libertarianism<\/em> (prioritizing personal freedom) and paternalism<\/em> (limiting choice in order to bring about better results)<\/strong>. In a world of libertarian paternalism, the public and private entities that present us with choices\u2014choice designers<\/strong>\u2014would use subtle techniques to push us toward the \u201cright\u201d choices\u2014the ones we would make for ourselves if we weren\u2019t susceptible to cognitive bias<\/a>, temptation, or social influence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These pushes, so subtle that the average person wouldn\u2019t recognize them as influences, are what Thaler and Sunstein call \u201cnudges.\u201d <\/strong>An effective nudge takes advantage of our decision-making<\/a> weaknesses<\/em> to steer us toward beneficial\u2014or, at least, less harmful\u2014choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critiques of Libertarian Paternalism<\/strong>

Thaler and Sunstein fashion libertarian paternalism as a happy medium between far-right libertarianism and far-left paternalism. As a result, libertarian paternalism has come in for critique from both the left and the right<\/strong>.

On the right, orthodox libertarians believe that libertarian paternalism is problematic because any <\/em>kind of paternalism is problematic<\/strong>. For example, in his book The Manipulation of Choice: Ethics and Libertarian Paternalism<\/em>, philosopher Mark D. White argues that presuming to know what the \u201cright\u201d choice is for anyone is a nonstarter<\/a>; people are too different for there to be any baseline standard of what\u2019s \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d for someone. Because libertarian paternalism presumes a universally preferred choice, it fails to account for the infinite variety of preferences among people<\/strong>. 

Reviewing Nudge <\/em>for the Mises Institute, a research organization committed to the free-market thought of economist Ludwig von Mises, scholar David Gordon argues that libertarian paternalism\u2019s assumption of human irrationality\u2014our vulnerability to bias, temptation, and other influences\u2014could be dangerous to human freedom. For example, if people are incorrigibly prone to bias, who\u2019s to say that any decision a person makes is the \u201cright\u201d one? Gordon believes Thaler and Sunstein\u2019s assumptions of human error in decision-making could lead to more paternalistic, and less libertarian, \u201cnudges\u201d down the line.

On the left, critics have taken issue with the libertarian commitments of libertarian paternalism. For example, in a review of Sunstein\u2019s How Change Happens <\/em>(2019)<\/a> <\/em>in The New Republic<\/em>, Aaron Timms points out that \u201cnudges\u201d are inadequate to large-scale problems like climate change or income inequality<\/a> that require societal, \u201cpaternalistic\u201d regulation and reform.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is libertarian paternalism in the book Nudge? How would choice designers manipulate the public’s decisions? In Nudge, libertarian paternalism is prioritizing personal freedom while limiting choice to bring about better results. Authors Thaler and Sunstein thought it would be a good system, but critics don’t agree. Learn about how libertarian paternalism works in Nudge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":51223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,275,24],"tags":[132],"class_list":["post-50902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-politics","category-society","tag-nudge","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nNudge: Libertarian Paternalism and Choice Design - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the book Nudge, the authors describe a system of libertarian paternalism. 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