Paternalism Case
Definition of paternalism.
Example- Helmet and mobile phone.
Why is it called kinder gentler paternalism- It is also called libertarian paternalism. The name libertarian paternalism stands true to its meaning. It is truly in line with both the school of thoughts of libertarianism and paternalism. With libertarian school of thoughts you have complete autonomy over your decision and the same time an institution is able to guide you to certain goal which they think is right according to them.
The example of organ donation. Data Germany- 12 %( opt in), Austria- 99 %( opt out). The picture looks a lot greener when we look at the data.
My concerns are two folds.
When an agency uses such behavioural economics, it shows that they are manipulative, A) because the agency employs them with the intention of affecting peoples choices. B) They deliberately circumvent peoples rational reasoning, and instead seek to influence their choices through knowledge of the biases to which they are susceptible.
The transparency of such methods employed is also dubious. I have two reasons regarding the transparency
We know that people dont choose optimal options. That may be because they have a legitimate overriding reasons or they may not have the complete information or they may be biased. LP assumes the third. And take no efforts in knowing the first or second. Here we can see clearly how confirmation bias works
Policy will work only when not transparent. Agency cannot give u the inform saying we are going to manipulate you and now u may make an informed choice. The very reason default option works because its trying to use your bias against you. Thus the effectiveness of the policy remains in its lack of transparency.