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On the 'cashing out' hypothesis and 'soft' and 'hard' policies
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 11:20 authored by Brennan, G, Brooks, MIn the literature on paternalism that has grown out of the behavioural economics 'revolution', a distinciton is drawn between 'hard' and 'soft' policies. Although this hard/soft distinciton seems to be motivated by the thought that the two policy types might have different implications for individual liberty, there is a claim that 'hard' policies are normatively superior to 'soft' for 'efficiency' reasons. We show, by appeal to an esteem-based model of 'soft' policy that this claim is not valid in general. We also expose a number of conceptual mistakes in what many seem to have identified as the normative implications of behavioural economics.
History
Publication title
European Journal of Political EconomyVolume
27Issue
4Pagination
601-610ISSN
0176-2680Department/School
TSBEPublisher
Elsevier BV-North HollandPlace of publication
NetherlandsRights statement
The definitive version is available at http://www.sciencedirect.comRepository Status
- Restricted