Taking inspiration from Glick and colleagues (2004), this study tested the idea that resentment of paternalism (which is part of the hostile sexism toward men construct) might approximate desire for system change by correlating this variable with actual behavior associated with system change in a single culture. Specifically, voting behavior in the 2008 U.S. presidential election was predicted ...

Weak paternalism commits protégés to their own plans. This experiment addresses the question of whether protégés judge weakly paternalistic acts primarily by means of their consequences or on principle grounds. Subjects receive a reward for showing up to the laboratory early the next morning which decreases in time. Protégés can either self-commit to a planned time or self-liberate by preservin...

Abstract People often fail to make the choices that best satisfy their preferences. The design of social environment inevitably makes some easier than others. According Libertarian Paternalists, these facts justify governments nudging people towards better through changes so-called choice architecture. This is a form means paternalism. However, affects not only people's or means, but also prefe...

Visceral objections typically exist to policies seen as “paternalistic.” Terms like “Big Brother” and the “nanny state” invoke the dire specter of government intrusion into individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behavior (Blumenthal & Huang, 2009). Indeed, “paternalism” itself is often a term of opprobrium, used to disparage or reject policies without necessarily addressing their merits or demeri...

Adler, M. (2011). Well-being and fair distribution: Beyond cost-benefit analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Allcott, H., Mullainathan, S., & Taubinsky, D. (2014). Energy policy with externalities and internalities. Journal of Public Economics, 112, 72–88. Conly, S. (2012). Against autonomy: Justifying coercive paternalism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DellaVigna, ...

Libertarian Paternalism (LP) purports to be a kind of paternalism that is “liberty-preserving” and hence compatible with liberal principles. In this paper, I argue against this compatibility claim. I show that LP violates core liberal principles, first because it limits freedom, and secondly because it fails to justify these limitations in ways acceptable to liberal positions. In particular, Li...

Choice can be an extraordinary benefit or an immense burden. In some contexts, people choose not to choose, or would do so if they were asked. In part because of limitations of "bandwidth," and in part because of awareness of their own lack of information and potential biases, people sometimes want other people to choose for them. For example, many people prefer not to make choices about their ...