Government paternalism : nanny state or helpful friend?
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Bibliographic Information
Government paternalism : nanny state or helpful friend?
Princeton University Press, c2015
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Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Should governments save people from themselves? Do governments have the right to influence citizens' behavior related to smoking tobacco, eating too much, not saving enough, drinking alcohol, or taking marijuana--or does this create a nanny state, leading to infantilization, demotivation, and breaches in individual autonomy? Looking at examples from both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, Government Paternalism examines the justifications for, and the prevalence of, government involvement and considers when intervention might or might not be acceptable. Building on developments in philosophy, behavioral economics, and psychology, Julian Le Grand and Bill New explore the roles, boundaries, and responsibilities of the government and its citizens. Le Grand and New investigate specific policy areas, including smoking, saving for pensions, and assisted suicide. They discuss legal restrictions on risky behavior, taxation of harmful activities, and subsidies for beneficial activities. And they pay particular attention to "nudge" or libertarian paternalist proposals that try to change the context in which individuals make decisions so that they make the right ones.
Le Grand and New argue that individuals often display "reasoning failure": an inability to achieve the ends that they set themselves. Such instances are ideal for paternalistic interventions--for though such interventions might impinge on autonomy, the impact can be outweighed by an improvement in well-being. Government Paternalism rigorously considers whether the state should guide citizen decision making in positive ways and if so, how this should be achieved.
Table of Contents
Preface vii 1 Introduction 1 2 What Is Paternalism? 7 The Interference in Freedom 8 Promoting the Good 16 The Question of Consent 18 Conclusion: A Definition of Paternalism 22 3 Types of Paternalism 25 Legal Paternalism 25 Soft and Hard Paternalism 26 Means and Ends Paternalism 27 Perfectionism 30 Volitional and Critical Paternalism 33 Moral Paternalism and Legal Moralism 35 Other Categories of Paternalism 36 Conclusion 38 4 Paternalism in Practice 41 Types of Government Intervention 42 Nonpaternalistic Justifications for State Intervention 53 Do Nonpaternalist Justifications Explain Paternalist Laws and Regulations? 59 Conclusion 77 5 Paternalism and Well-Being 79 The Classical Economic Model and Its Challengers 80 The Evidence on Reasoning Failure 82 Ends-Related Paternalism 101 Conclusion: Means-Related versus Ends-Related Paternalism 103 6 The Nanny State: The Challenge from Autonomy 105 Autonomy 106 Autonomy and Motivation 108 Soft Paternalism 111 Autonomy Failure from External Causes 112 Autonomy Failure from Internal Causes 116 When Should the Soft Paternalist Intervene? 119 Does Soft Paternalism Avoid Offending Autonomy? 121 Overriding Autonomy: Hard Paternalism 127 Conclusion 131 7 Libertarian Paternalism 133 Definitions 134 Nudge Ideas: The Case For 135 Nudge Ideas: The Case Against 139 Conclusion 145 8 Paternalism and Policy 147 The Groups Affected: Well-Being and Autonomy 147 Types of Policy 151 Smoking 154 Pensions 159 Assisted Suicide 161 Conclusion 166 9 The Politics of Paternalism 167 Can the State Do Better? 167 Will the State Do Better? 170 Conclusion 174 10 Nanny State or Helpful Friend? 177 Bibliography 183 Index 195
by "Nielsen BookData"