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If a person is told by another, who stands in some kind of authority over them, that they ‘needn’t be doing’ something they are doing, is the person who receives this information to interpret it as an instruction to cease …
Behavioral economics is one of the most significant developments in economics over the past 30 years. The field combines economics and psychology to produce a body of evidence that individual choice behavior departs from that predicted by neoclassical economics in a number of decisionmaking situations. These departures from rational-choice behavior are said to be the result of the individual’s “cognitive biases,” that is, systematic failures to act in one’s own interest because of defects in one’s decisionmaking process. The documentation of these cognitive biases in laboratory experiments has been behavioral economics’ primary contribution to microeconomics.
In this essay I will begin by disagreeing with the authors on two counts. First, I will argue that defenders of liberty might want to think long and hard about specific issues, such as retirement accounts, where liberty and the …
Let me begin by saying that I’m far more unimpressed by the contribution of behavioral economists than even Wright and Ginsburg. The perception that people aren’t hardwired, so to speak, to always act — in their own interests has only …
Joshua Wright and Douglas Ginsburg have given us a very good analysis of many of the problems inherent in normative behavioral law and economics (especially in the form of “libertarian” or soft paternalism) from the perspective of liberty. I am …
Joshua Wright and Judge Ginsburg offer a powerful critique of the Behavioral Law and Economics (BLE) movement on several fronts, but primarily based on the threat BLE poses to individual liberty. They provide a helpful and straightforward history of the …
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